:.^%.. -Mi: .^^^ 



> '^., 



■y <: 



■S-' '^^ 



.\^ 












x'^^^.. 



■■^'■ix :\>'^' 



x^"^"* ^' V '"/ "^:^ 






o. 






■^o 


0^ 






< • 




'%^-<^' ' 




: .x^' 


■"■f. 

-:>* 


v^^ '\, 




^■' s ' 


<> 


'' 




. ^ A 


O 


^ ^ 




V^^^ ^ ' 


" /; '' ■ 


' '.• ■'<•■ 


^ 


■-N 


^ 


X ^, 


^^A 


>*^ 


-"oo^ 




nO^. :\ 


.^^ V 








^ (j* s // C' 









=,*<*. 






iV' 



a\ .^ 






>•■ a^ 









'<=>. * K ■ x^"^ 






^ 









A 



O, '^.oVx-*' ,0^ 



<- -?^ 



.-^^ 
























* . O- 



H ' '^. V" 



aN .•^\ 



'OO^ 












% 



" ' N^^^.. :^^^- .-I -':. 



^/.-^^^<^.o^ "■ „,%^T?f;^^/ 



,v ->. 



vX- 



.0- 












■<^' ^':^'., 



.^% 



^^ 



xV -P^ 






'^.^ ^- 



N ■^'• 



*-■ ^ 






" ,0 



v>^ . 









,-0 -^:<, 



..-b^^ -; 






1 o 



%^- ■'^. <^ 



^ .0 









o 0^ 






Oo, 



^>' '^/^ 






^ .^^^ 



.^■\ 









'-Ss. 






• 0' 



■^^. ^^ 



^^ 



ci-^ 



\^ 



O 0' 
















■o'^c 



:^. 



aN^"^- 



,^^^ 



-f, vX\^ .^ 



'^^ V 



o 0' 






,0 c 



<:^ 

o"^ '7', 






" .o- 



:\: 












X> ,^\^'' 



A^^-- 



.6^^ 












-i\^ 






-S 






0- 






--A, 



^' ■/\ 



,0^ 



.^^^■ ■% 



%^^^ 












A 






/'^> 










0' 






.A" 



\.^^^" 






o-^ -r. 






oo^ 



s " >\ 



V v^^' ^^ 









o>- 



^0^ 



'$'. c'^ 









.J*'' v' 



.^*^ 









3 •> \^ 



\.<> 



THE CIVIL WAR AND 
RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



/SO 

is 



BY 

WILLIAM WATSON DAVIS, A. M. 

Assistant Professor, Amfritan IJislory 

Unhersily of Kansas 

Sometime University Fellow in American History 

Columbia University 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
I913 



Copyright, 1913 

BY 

WILLIAM WATSON DAVIS 



TO 

MY FATHER 
MATTHEW LIVINGSTON DAVIS 

OF ALABAMA 



Fsilo 



Gilt 



PREFACE 

Before this monograph on Florida was begun Ameri- 
can historians had presented with admirable clearness 
and breadth the essential facts and principles involved in 
the momentous issues which conh-onted the nation for 
more than a decade after 1861. The field had been fairly- 
explored. Little that was both broadly significant and 
new remained unexploited. The present work is there- 
fore something like a small section of a long appendix. 
It belongs logically to that body of monographic litera- 
ture which usually follows the stimulating analysis of a 
period or of an extended institution. The crop of Civil 
War and Reconstruction monographs is steadily increas- 
ing and today at least exhibits evidences of good inten- 
tion and industry on the part of the monographists. 
Maybe from these detailed studies a wiser and juster in- 
terpretation of the period will be produced for some 
later generation, although nothing, not even mono- 
graphs, can save a generation from seeking what it de- 
sires, which in matters historical seems to be history that 
is proven ("authentic" is the word usually heard) and 
interesting ("just like a romance" is the phrase) — re- 
gardless of the facts in the case. People seem to want 
their opinions on past politics ready-made, and there is 
a successful effort to supply the small demand. This is 
evidently not a phenomenon of our utilitarian age. 
Montaigne referred to it more than three centuries ago. 
"The middle sort of historians (of which the most are)," 
he concluded sadly, "spoil it all; they ^vill chew our 



viii PREFACE 

meat for us . . . they pass judgment and consequently 
twist history to suit their fancy." 

The object of this particular monograph can be suc- 
cinctly stated because the object is simple; namely, to 
present the course of political events in Florida through 
a limited period, to show how national policies afifected 
local politics there, to supplement in a small way what is 
already well known concerning the history of the nation 
at large. No facts or conclusions of very broad signifi- 
cance are presented here for the first time. No claim is 
made to revolutionary, original, or particularly new 
explanation of what took place in Florida or out. It is 
probably just as well that the striking and original 
features of this book are left out, for it is thick enough 
as it is — which is a sign of literary youth, I am told. 

I undertook the writing of this monograph on the sug- 
gestion of Professor William A. Dunning, in whose semi- 
nar at Columbia University I was a student when the 
suggestion was made to me. The work has slowly 
reached completion under the eye of Professor Dunning. 
To him I am sincerely grateful for what I believe to be 
the best help that a student of the Civil War and Recon- 
struction can receive on the subject. 

In writing this book I have encountered the diffi- 
culties and disappointments incident to historical investi- 
gation. I have found surviving testimony very thin on 
some subjects. I have found many clear gaps in the 
surviving records. The historical material which is 
available is in reality scattered and scant. Hence there 
are gaps and thin places in this study. These short- 
comings can best be appreciated by reading the mono- 
graph. It does not become me to point them out. I 
have written too much already about the book. " The 
author who speaks about his own book," wrote Benja- 



PREFACE ix 

min Disraeli, with the insight of one who had many 
books but no children to his credit, "is almost as bad as 
the mother who talks about her own children." 

It has been my object to supplement as much as pos- 
sible scientific use of documents by conversations with 
some of those men and women who personally experi- 
enced the Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida. I 
am much indebted to many of them for advice and in- 
formation, particularly to Mr. Daniel Brent and the late 
Mr. Edward Anderson of Pensacola, to Mr. William 
Trimmer of Molino, to Judge P. W. White of Quincy, 
to Mrs. Chapman, and Mr. Thomas Barnes of Marianna, 
to ex-Governor Bloxham, Judge Hocker, Judge Taylor. 
Judge Bernard, Judge Raney and the late Colonel Fred. 
L. Robertson of Tallahassee. I have been greatly aided 
through advice and documentary material presented by 
other friends and acquaintances — younger men and 
women than the foregoing. My uncle, Philip Keyes 
Yonge of Pensacola, put his valuable library at my dis- 
posal. My cousin, Julien C. Yonge of Pensacola, through 
his scholarly insight aided me greatly in obtaining his- 
torical material. For various helpful suggestions and 
kindnesses I am indebted to Mr. and Mrs. William Mil- 
ton, Judge Carter, and Mr. Thomas Walker of Marianna, 
Mr. F. F. Bingham of Pensacola, Mr. W. L. Cawthon of 
De Funiak Springs, Judge Parkhill of Tallahassee, Col- 
onel Choate of Tallahassee, Miss Maggie Williams of 
Tallahassee and Miss Gamble of Virginia. 

In the preparation of the manuscript for the printer I 
was faithfully and efficiently aided by Mr. F. W. Charles- 
worth, Mr. Earle Moore and Mr. R. E. L. Gunning, 
students in the University of Kansas, and by Mr. F. I. 
Carter of Lawrence, Kansas. 

The proof was read by Professor Dunning, whose sug- 



X PREFACE 

gestions and corrections proved invaluable to me. I am 
indebted to Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman for his 
kindly interest in getting the work into press. In the 
revision of the proof my sister, Sarah Caroline Davis, 
helped me greatly by her careful, patient work. For 
sound criticism and never-failing encouragement I am 
deeply indebted to two very dear kinswomen : Mrs. 
Malcolm C. Anderson and Miss M. Louise Sullivan of 
New York. 

Finally I wish to acknowledge the substantial help and 
steady encouragement rendered by my father, to whom 
this volume is dedicated. He has shown deep interest in 
the work in spite of his many pressing business cares. He 
has sympathized intelligently with me in those inevitable 
difficulties that are apt to come, I am told, to young 
writers. He has backed me up consistently from first 
to last. His aid made the publication of this history 
possible. 

William Watson Davis. 

The University of Kansas, 
Lawrence, Kansas, December \, 1912. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



BOOK 1 

IHE PARTING OF THE WAYS 

CHAPTER I 

The Evolution of a Slave-Holding Commonwealth 

PAGE 

Historical background. Colonial Florida 3 

The civilized population of Spanish Florida 9 

The coming of the Americans 1 1 

The sale of the public land 13 

The beginning of Territorial politics 15 

The rise of the planter class 17 

The poor whites 20 

The bank question in Territorial Florida 22 

The Union Bank 23 

" Flush Times " — boom towns 24 

The panic of 1837 25 

The defeat in politics of the large planters. Revolt against capi- 
talism 26 

CHAPTER H 
The Last Years of the Ante-Bellum Regime 

The Seminole war and the panic. Depression 30 

Economic development during the fifties 32 

Growing hostility to the North. The political crisis of 1850 .... 35 

Southern-rights Democrats of Florida 36 

Sectional animosity 37 

The rise of the Constitutional Union party 38 

Florida and the Charleston Convention. The divided Democracy. 39 

The campaign of i860 in Florida 41 

Lawlessness. Evidences of physical coercion 42 

The portentous signs of the times 44 

The election of i860 in Florida 45 

xi 



xii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER III 

Secession 

Protest against the election of Lincoln. The call to arms 47 

Efforts to stem the tide of secession 49 

Why the people of the South opposed the North 50 

The views of Senator Mallory and President Buchanan 51 

The number and location of farms and slave-holders in Florida . . 52 

Popular opinion throughout Florida. Impending revolution 53 

The convening of the Secession Convention, January 3d, 1861 .... 56 
Two ways of seceding. The Convention chooses the quicker .... 58 
Radical advice from other states. A commissioner from the Re- 
public of South CaroHna 59 

Efforts of conservatives to delay action 61 

Passage of the Ordinance of Secession, January loth, 1861 63 

Florida "a Nation." Enthusiasm. The question of Northern debts. 65 

Completing the process of secession 67 

The spirit of the revolution 68 

CHAPTER IV 

The Seizure of Federal Property and the Raising of Troops 

Secession leaders plan to seize Federal fortifications in Florida. . 69 

The Federal War Department is informed of the danger 70 

The seizure of forts and arsenals by state troops 71 

The situation on Pensacola bay : peaceable surrender or hazardous 

defense ? 74 

Discord and indecision among Federal officers in West Florida. . 76 
Slemmer's move across the channel. Barrancas and McRee aban- 
doned 77 

State militia prepares to seize the navy-yard and forts 79 

The surrender of the |Pensacola navy-yard 81 

The conservative course of Wm. Chase. No effort to take Pickens. 83 

Executive radicalism in accord with the times 85 

The severing of actual administrative and political relations with 

the Union 86 

Florida's ante-bellum militia. Militia elections. Reorganization.. 87 

The first troops. The origin of Florida's war militia 88 

The organization of the Confederate Army. First requisitions . . 90 

The arming, mobilizing and maintenance of troops 91 

Popular response to the alarm. Troops raised in Florida during 

the first year of war 94 

The Confederate military system absorbs that of the states 95 



TALLE OF CONTENTS xiii 

TAGE 

CHAPTER V 
The Fort Pickens Truce 

The policy of President Buchanan : constitutional conservatism . . 97 

The forts in Florida and South Carolina. Impending war 99 

The origin of the Fort Pickens Truce. Buchanan consistent 100 

Fort Pickens at the mercy of state troops 102 

Lincoln and the Fort Pickens Truce. A change of policy 104 

The Pickens relief expedition 105 

The mobilization of a Confederate army on Pensacola bay. The 

Truce utilized 107 

The misdirected orders to break the Truce. Pickens not rein- 
forced 108 

Special despatches through Confederate lines. Pickens rein- 
forced 108 

Lincoln's policy of reinforcement known in the Confederate war 

department m 

Efforts to bribe members of the Pickens garrison 112 

The Southern volunteers on Pensacola bay 114 

Confederate fortifications and troops. Russell's testimony 117 

The interior of Fort Pickens 120 

Continuation of the armed truce in the "Sebastopol of America".. 121 

The significance of mobilizing the Army of Pensacola 122 

BOOK II 

THE CIVIL WAR 

CHAPTER VI 

The Beginning of Hostilities in Florida 

The burning of the dry dock and the attack on the Judah 125 

Confederate preparations for reprisal 127 

The engagement before dawn on Santa Rosa island 129 

The results of the engagement 132 

The first duel of the forts I33 

Results of the bombardment 13S 

The development of the conflict. A far-flung frontier 138 

The aggressive movement in the West and the depletion of sea- 
board armies i39 

Military weakness in Florida. Causes 140 

The " One Year Men " and the disbanding of the state militia .... 143 



xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Confederate war department's defensive policy on the Flor- 
ida coast 144 

The transmission of the pressure to Florida. Troops ordered to 
Tennessee 146 

Preparations to abandon the seaboard. Public opinion 148 

CHAPTER VII 

Federal Invasion 

The origin of the Federal invasion of East Florida 150 

The raid upon Cedar Keys, Gulf railway terminus 151 

The sailing of the Florida expedition of invasion from Port Royal. 153 
The arrival of the Federal squadron. Flight from Fernandina . . 155 
The Federal descent upon Jacksonville and the burnings by Con- 
federate irregulars 156 

The occupation of Jacksonville by Federal troops. Public senti- 
ment there 157 

The peaceful conquest of St. Augustine 159 

The military situation in East Florida. The promising outlook 

of Unionists 160 

The Gulf coast. Garrison duty 161 

The Federal visit at Apalachicola. Awful destitution 162 

Pensacola after a year of war. Weeds and desolation 164 

Preparations to abandon Pensacola. Destruction of property by 

Confederate military 165 

Evacuation. The destruction of the navy-yard by Confederate 

orders 166 

The occupation of Pensacola by Federal troops 168 

The abandonment of Jacksonville by Federal troops and its reoc- 

cupation 169 

The second abandonment of Jacksonville and its reoccupation a 

second time 171 

The third abandonment. The burning of Jacksonville. Vandalism. 173 

CHAPTER VIII 

Economic Adjustment to the War 

The effect of secession on the state constitution 175 

Secession measures and war measures 176 

State financial measures to meet the crisis. Bonds and notes .... 177 

The depreciation of securities. Efforts to uphold values 179 

War-time currency. Recapitulation of conditions in Florida 181 



TABLE OF CONTENTS XV 

PAGE 

Speculation in currency and supplies. Legislative efforts to con- 
trol speculation 183 

Increased public expenditure: state troops, war supplies, Confed- 
erate tax, indigent 185 

The operation and incidence of the Confederate Impressment Act 

and Direct Tax Act 186 

State aid to the indigent and starving families of soldiers 188 

Conflict in the enforcement of Confederate and state laws 190 

The Yulee sugar case. Conflict between private owner and Con- 
federate agent 192 

The Florida railroad-iron case. Serious controversy over impress- 
ment 193 

Public opinion in the railroad-iron case. Conflict between civil 

and military authorities I94 

War-time business. Blockade-running in Florida 196 

The evil effects of blockade trade 198 

Did the blockade trade pay ? 201 

War-time industry : salt-making in Florida. Confederate and 

private works 203 

The destruction of salt works by the Federal navy 205 

Agriculture, industry and state law. Speculation 210 

The overseer and substitute question. Policy of the unwarlike .. 211 

Exemptions from military service. Bonded agriculturists 213 

A synthetic view of war-time economy in Florida 215 

CHAPTER IX 

The Negro and the War 

Black faithfulness and the commendation of one-time slaveholders. 218 

The patrol laws of i860. Stricter control of the blacks. Fear 220 

The negro as a vital economic factor. Overseers 221 

The impressment of slaves for the Confederate Army 223 

Negro recruits from Florida in the Federal Army. The " Corps 

d'Af rique " 224 

The question of black troops for the Confederate service 225 

The Confederate congress provides for negro recruitment. Flor- 
ida's quota 226 

Black invaders. Fear of servile insurrection 228 

The invasion of East Florida by Higginson's negro brigade 230 

Raiding by negro troops 232 

The negro's efficiency as a soldier in Florida 234 

Social experimentation. Negro schools within Federal lines 235 



xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PACK 

Political experimentation. Negro political meetings and patriotic 

parades 236 

The legal status of the negro in Florida within Federal lines .... 238 

Early efforts to emancipate by military order. Hunter, Morgan 

and Terry 240 

Emancipation by military order at Key West 241 

CHAPTER X 
Internal Opposition to the Confederacy : Unionists and Deserters 

The term " Union Man." Northern traditions 243 

Native Southern Unionists. Approximate number of Union sym- 
pathizers in Florida 245 

Union sentiment in Key West. Military coercion 247 

Sequestration and confiscation 249 

The rise of the Unionist politicians. Protest against the Confed- 
eracy 250 

Co-operation of the military with East Florida reorganizers .... 251 
The abandonment of Jacksonville and the flight of Union men .... 252 
The National Administration takes a hand in East Florida poli- 
tics. Disaster 254 

The plan of Eli Thayer : economic reconstruction in Florida .... 255 
Efforts to suppress Union sentiment. Confederate irregulars. A 

reign of terror 257 

The deserter and conscript question. Organization among those 

disloyal to the Confederacy 258 

The serious aggression of deserters and bandits. Efforts to sup- 
press them 259 

The epistle of Strickland and the "Florida Royals" in the "United 

States of Taylor " 262 

The policy of the Confederate Government toward Deserters in 

Florida 263 

The causes of desertion. Gov. Milton's opinion. Conscription and 

poverty 264 

Recapitulation. The problem for the state created by Union men 
and deserters 266 

CHAPTER XI 

The Olustee Campaign 

The failure of the Confederates' food supply. The importance 

of Florida 268 

Maj. White's circular encourages Federal invasion for plunder .. 270 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xvii 

PAGE 

Political motives. Lincoln's reconstruction policy. Stickney's in- 
trigues 272 

The invasion of Florida suggested. Political demonstrations .... 274 

Military and naval preparation for the invasion of Florida 276 

The arrival of the Federal army. Florida open to invasion 277 

The Henry raid. The interior penetrated for fifty miles. Desti- 
tution and destruction 277 

The cautious movement of the main Federal army. Confederate 

outlook 280 

Confederate preparations at Olustee. Federal forward movement. 282 

The morning march to the fatal battlefield 286 

The opening of the battle of Olustee. Confederate troops advance. 287 

Deployment under fire. The Federal column crushed 288 

The defeat. (Rapid retreat of the Federal army toward Jackson- 
ville 290 

The battle of Olustee checks political plans. Northern press 

opinion 293 

The result of the Olustee campaign. Cabinet opinion 294 

CHAPTER Xn 

The Last Year's Fighting 

The Confederate defenses in Northwest Florida 296 

The closing phase of the war 297 

The war in East Florida. Skirmishers and torpedoes on the St. 

Johns 298 

Raids into South Florida. Smyrna and Tampa , . 300 

Fighting on the St. Johns. The " Columbine " and Dickison 301 

Federal raiding expeditions from Jacksonville. Burning and plun- 
dering 303 

Central and West Florida. Asboth at Barrancas. Neighborhood 

skirmishing 307 

Efforts to penetrate the interior. Cedar Keys raids. The Mari- 

anna tragedy 309 

Raiding and skirmishing in West Florida. Dickison at Station 

No. 4 312 

The struggle at Natural Bridge, 1865. Defeat of the invaders .... 314 



xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

BOOK III 

POLITICAL RECONSTRUCTION 
CHAPTER XIII 

The End of the War 

The end of the South's struggle for independence. The cost .... 319 

Florida's part in the struggle 322 

The official surrender of General Jones (C. S. A.) to General 

McCook 325 

The restraints of law removed. Demoralization 329 

The Federal military supplants the civil authority 331 

The state government abolished by military orders 332 

Federal policy toward political leaders 334 

Arbitrary restraints on free speech. Obstreperous pastors 336 

Federal garrisons. Negro soldiers take the place of white soldiers. 337 

The Federal military attempts to protect the negro's interests .... 339 

The negroes test their freedom 341 

The Tribune's summary of conditions in Florida . . .' 34-\ 

CHAPTER XIV 

Political Reorganization 

The new period. Retrospect and prejudice 346 

The central theme of Reconstruction 349 

Judge Chase and Federal patronage in Florida 350 

Reed's letter to Blair , 351 

The provisional governorship 353 

The appointment of Judge Marvin provisional governor of Florida. 354 

The policy of Marvin, provisional governor 357 

The governor calls a convention 359 

The election of delegates to a convention. Ex-iConfederates control. 360 
Critical questions : The war-debt and the civil status of the negro. 361 

The extent and character of the convention's work 364 

The further progress of civil reorganization. Opposition to Con- 
gress 365 

Conservative opinions on the temper of Florida 367 

Tranquility in Florida. The press and Confederate veterans .... 368 

Disturbing factors, social and political 370 

Evidences of economic recuperation. Business picks up 372 

The appearance of secret organization among the negroes 374 

The conservative Southern white and negro secret societies .... 375 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xix 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XV , 

The Freedmen's Bureau and Public Opinion 

The object of the Bureau and its establishment in Florida 377 

The local organization of the Bureau 37^ 

The restoration of abandoned and confiscated property 380 

The scope of the Bureau 382 

Charitable assistance. Food and medical attention 383 

The establishment of free schools for negroes 385 

State and Federal negro schools 387 

Northern and Southern opinion on negro education 389 

The Freedman's Savings-Bank in Florida 390 

The supervision of written labor contracts by the Bureau 393 

The working out of the contract system 395 

The judgment of the native whites : Conservative opinion 39'^ 

The Southern planter's judgment 399 

The professed policy of the Bureau and its political tendency 400 

Conflict of prejudices 402 

Evidences of graft in Bureau administration 403 

The clash of authority between the Freedmen's Bureau and local 

government 405 

The fundamental reasons for condemnation of the Bureau by Con- 
servatives 407 

CHAPTER XVI 

The Problem of Conservative Rule 

The task before the Conservative state government 408 

The looming up of negro suffrage as an issue 409 

The origin and necessity of the Black Codes 41 1 

The " Free Negro " in Florida under the old regime 413 

The proposal of different laws for different races 415 

The enactment of the Black Code 41/ 

The object of the Black Code 421 

The effect of the Black Code 422 

The spirit of Conservative legislation on the race question, 1865-6. 424 

Evidences of social disorder 426 

Congressional condemnation of the Florida government 428 

The supremacy of military authority 430 

The Federal Civil Rights Act and its effect in Florida 432 

Preliminary organization of Radical and Conservative 433 

The unanimous repudiation of the proposed 14th Amendment .... 433 



XX TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XVII 
The Beginning of Radical Reconstruction 

The political object of Radicals in reconstructing Southern gov- 
ernments 438 

The Reconstruction Committee in Washington. Floridians tes- 
tify before it 440 

Radicals in Florida condemn Southern whites 441 

Adverse reports from army officers on Southern loyalty 443 

In^pending Reconstruction. Would the Supreme Court intervene? 444 
Passage of the Reconstruction Laws; public opinion in Florida .. 445 

Ready submission to Congress advised by Southern leaders 448 

Did conditions in Florida necessitate such drastic laws? 450 

The application of the Reconstruction laws; military rule begin. 454 

The Blacks experiment in politics 455 

A Negro political picnic. Parading and speaking 456 

Conservative whites essay to lead the negroes. Results 459 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Registration and the Organiz.xtion of Local Parties 

Military rule. Little public disturbance or injustice 463 

Preparation for registration. Registers and their duty 465 

The process of registration 466 

Preparation for the election. Districting Florida. The gerrymander. 468 
The result of registration. 30 per cent of the whites not registered. 469 

The evolution of Republican factions, 1867 470 

The first Radical state convention — negroes, carpet-baggers, and 

scalawags 474 

Carpet-baggers vs. scalawags 475 

" The birds of passage " 476 

The attitude of Conservative white toward carpet-bagger and scal- 
awag 479 

|Prospective strength of Radical and Conservative parties in Florida. 482 

The Union-Conservative movement 483 

The Conservative Southerner's advice to the negro 484 

Apathy among the whites in organizing and registering 487 

The aggressive Radical campaign. Religion and politics 489 



TABLE OF content: x:cI 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XIX 

The Constitutional Convention of 1868 

The election of delegates. Overwhelming iRadical victory 491 

The character of the body chosen to make a new constitution .... 493 

Conservative charges of fraud. Attempted obstruction 497 

Radical and Conservative opinions on election results 499 

Radical white leaders organize negro delegates before the conven- 
tion opens 499 

The assembling — "Education, Equal Rights and the Ballot Box".. 500 

Radical legislation: stay laws and release of prisoners 501 

Discord among Radicals S02 

Threatened expulsion of Radical leaders — dead-lock 503 

The Radical faction in the convention 504 

The secession of moderate Republicans 506 

The work of the Radical " Rump Convention " in Tallahassee .... 507 
The midnight return of seceders to Tallahassee. Threatened riot. 509 

The moderate constitution. The question of white control 510 

The relations of moderate Republicans and Southern Conservatives. 512 
The intervention of the Federal military. Moderates triumph .... 513 

BOOK IV 

REPUBLICAN RULE 

CHAPTER XX 

The Inauguration of a Republican State Government 

The revival of the Democratic party South 519 

The Conservative state convention. Opposition to the Constitution. 522 

Radicals divided. Two Republican state tickets 522 

The question of further proscribing Conservatives 525 

The election. The Constitution ratified. Republican victory .... 526. 

The inauguration. Governor Harrison Reed 528 

The character of the new legislature 529 

The Federal military st'll retains control of the state government. 530 

Florida again represented in the Federal congress, 1868 531 

The end of military rule, July 4th, 1868 532 

The establishment of local Republican government by executive 

appointment 533 

The difficulty of obtaining good men for local office 535 



xxii TABLE OP CONTENTS 

PAcr, 

Florida and the national nominations 536 

The Presidential campaign of 1868. Aggressive tactics of Demo- 
crats 537 

Arbitrary tactics. A Republican legislature chooses Presidential 
electors 540 

CHAPTER XXI 
Conflict among iRadicals — Two Governors of Florida 

The origin of discord : Government jobs and contracts 542 

Federal and state patronage 543 

Governor Reed offends both Radical and Conservative 544. 

Graft proposals. The Governor further antagonizes Radical leaders. 546 

The impeachment of Governor Reed 546 

The Governor's position 548 

The treachery of the Secretary of State, late of Massachusetts... 551 
The conspiracy. Gleason's government in " McGuffin's Hotel" .. 551 
Threatened violence. The picket line. Planned assassination . . 553 

Judicial interposition. The Supreme Court supports Reed 553 

Lieutenant-Governor Gleason driven from office through quo war- 
ranto 555 

CHAPTER XXH 

The Outbreak of Lawlessness 

Toleration of violence 557 

Rumors and reports concerning the Ku Klux Klan 558 

The Young Men's Democratic club — secret political organization. . 561 
The origin of the Democratic club. Was it similar to the Ku Klux 

Klan ? 562 

Increase in violence. The Republican government seeks Federal 

aid 564 

Conservative vs. Radical. The beginning of the "Reign of Terror" 

in Jackson County 565 

The " Regulators " — night-riders. Whippings and killings 566 

The death of Finlayson. The threatened sack of Marianna 568 

The course of lawlessness. Conservative violence and Radical 

tyranny 569 

Tragedy in Jackson County. Death of Miss McClellan at the hands 

of negroes 571 

Fear of general conflict between races in Jackson County 573 

Retaliation and revenge. The case of Fleishman. The authorities 

helpless 575 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xxiii 

PAGE 

Republicans urge martial law and troops in Jackson County. Reed's 

position 577 

Shootings, murders, and whippings throughout the state 579 

The actual extent of violence in Florida 581 

The end of the Jackson County trouble. Dickinson's death 583 

The decline of lawlessness. Federal interference. Weakening of 
Radicals 584 

CHAPTER XXIII 

An Inquiry into the Causes of Lawlessness 

The basis of the conflict 587 

The prejudice of the Southerner on the race question 588 

Neighborhood quarrels the heritage of the war 590 

Negroes seek farms. Disputes over land titles 592 

The slaughtering of stock, the stealing of cotton, and methods of 

punishment 594 

Labor contracts as a source of social irritation. Dishonesty and 

ignorance 595 

The expensiveness of radical rule 597 

Dissatisfaction among property-owners 599 

Lawlessness by the vicious in times of revolution 601 

Conservative contempt of local officials 602 

Terrorism, secrecy, and the breakdown of the jury system 603 

Did the negro obtain justice in the courts ? 604 

Criminal suggestion and bad advice from the Radical leaders .... 606 
Rule or ruin — contemporary opinions 607 

CHAPTER XXIV 

Party [Politics to the Beginning of the Republican Decline and 

After 

Dissension among Radicals. The secession of Saunders 610 

The second attempt to impeach the Governor. The lobbyists .... 612 
The ratification of the 15th Amendment to the Federal Constitu- 
tion 615 

Charges and counter-charges of conspiracy and bribery 615 

Evidences of conflict among Radicals 617 

The opening of the campaign of 1870. Negroes oppose carpet- 
baggers 618 

" The Reform Conservative party of Florida," 1870. The nomi- 
nations 619 



xxiv TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

"The Swing Round the Circle" with shot-guns and reasonable 

arguments 620 

The election of 1870. Lawlessness 621 

The result at the polls. Republican defeat. The Board of State 

Canvassers 623 

The episode of restraining the Board by injunction 623 

Republicans resort to the Federal Enforcement Act to dissolve the 

injunction 626 

Bloxham applies for a writ of mandamus. Delay. Sharp prac- 
tice of the Radical legislature 628 

The beginning of Republican decline, 1870 629 

Governor Reed in conflict with local bosses 630 

Desperate efiforts to remove the executive. The House presents 

articles of impeachment 631 

The Senate adjourns sine die. Was Reed suspended from office? 632 
The discharge of Reed "from arrest" and the end of impeachment. 635 

The campaign of 1872. The Liberal Republican movement 637 

The boisterous Republican state convention. Hart and the negroes 

prevail 638 

The Radical victory of 1872 639 

Election tactics. Federal troops and Federal deputy marshals 

police the state 640 

The development of Conservative strength. The " Tidal Wave of 

'74" 643 

The Democrats win a place in the United States Senate. Jones . . 644 

CHAPTER XXV 
The Record of Republican Rule 

The basis of Republican administration. Centralized rule 647 

The expansion of government 648 

Proposed reform of 1868. The government must increase its 

income 650 

Railroad reorganization by state aid. Proposed land grants 652 

Initial financial difficulties. The increase of state indebtedness... 653 
Soliciting financial support in the North. Disagreement among Re- 
publicans 655 

The beginning of the J. P. and M. scandal. Sale of bankrupt roads. 657 
The purchase of railroads from the state. " Embezzled cash " ^nd 

a " worthless check " 658 

The new corporation. Bribery. State aid 659 

The issuing of $4,000,000 in state bonds for the railroad. The dis- 
sipation of the proceeds 661 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xxv 

PAGE 

The outcome of the railroad deal. Increased indebtedness 663 

Legislative corruption. Bribery 663 

Selling offices. Campaign contributions 666 

The courts under Republican rule. The judiciary opposes Re- 
trenchment. Partisan tactics 667 

The trustees of the public domain. iReckless and unfair transfers 

of trust land -. 669 

The rise in state indebtedness and government expenditure 672 

The tax rate increases enormously. Measures to enforce collections. 673 

The Tax- Payers Convention. Shrinkage of personal property 676 

Evidences of peculation in handling the public income 678 

The funded debt. The bond issues 679 

The miserable character of public works. Dilapidation 680 

Public education. Creditable development of the school system . . 682 

The cause of Republican maladministration 684 

CHAPTER XXVI 

The Election of 1876 

The campaign opens. The Conservative groundsvirell 687 

The Republican machine crushes Republican reformers 689 

The Conservative convention. The formal arraignment of Radi- 
cal rule 691 

Republican declarations of principles 693 

Campaign methods. Rough tactics 694 

Conservative whites threaten blacks with economic coercion 696 

Republican policy: organization of negroes and preparation to 

commit fraud 698 

Impending disorder. The distribution of Federal troops 699 

The spirit and object of the Conservative campaign 703 

At the polls, November 7th 705 

Evidences of discord in the election 706 

Was the election fair and peaceful ? 709 

The legal plan for canvassing the state vote 710 

The announcement of the precinct vote 711 

CHAPTER XXVII 
The Result of the Election of 1876 

A crisis. Call for money, lawyers, and Federal troops 713 

The electoral situation in Florida 715 

Democrats and Republicans prepare to contest returns 715 

The state board that must decide the count 716 



xxvi TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The case of Archer Precinct in Alachua County 717 

Republican assault on the Jackson County returns 721 

Republican assault on the returns from Hamilton, Monroe, and 

Manatee Counties 722 

The three returns from Baker County 723 

The decision of the Board of State Canvassers 726 

Partisanship and political rewards to partisans 729 

The later admission of one member of the Board 732 

Democrats resort to the courts and win the governorship 733 

The inauguration of Drew. Impending violence 735 

The new canvassing board and the Democratic electors 736 

The close of the Reconstruction period 737 



BOOK I 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 

" Florida came into the Union fifteen years ago upon an equality 
with the original States, and their rights in the Confederacy are 
equally her rights. . . . From the Union, governed by the Constitution 
as our fathers made it, there breathes not a secessionist upon her 
soil; but a deep sense of injustice, inequality and insecurity produced 
by the causes to which I have adverted, is brought home to the reason 
and patriotism of her people; and to secure and maintain these rights 
which the Constitution no longer accords them, they have placed the 
State of Florida out of the Confederacy." — Stephen R. Mallory before 
the United States Senate, Jan. 21, 1861, Cong. Globe, 36th C, 2nd S., 
P- 485. 



CHAPTER I 

The Evolution of a Slave-Holding Commonwealth 

Florida was the last Federal territory to become a slave 
state. At the outbreak of the Civil War it had fewer fac- 
tories, fewer towns, less wealth, and less population than 
any other slave state. Every other commonwealth created 
during the Middle Period quickly surpassed Florida in 
population and wealth, although along its coasts had 
been established the first permanent European colonies 
within the present bounds of the Union. Mr. Rhodes 
points out, with great truth, that at the outbreak of 
the Civil War the Southern states were " but a farm, 
dependent on Europe and the North for everything 
but bread and meat, and before the war for much of 
these ". This characteristic of the South was probably 
most accentuated in Florida. The history of the Civil War 
and Reconstruction there is essentially a history of pro- 
found revolution in a sparsely settled and distinctly rural 
region. Therefore, at the outset, the obvious facts con- 
cerning the comparative retardation of Florida in material 
development are worthy of some notice. They indicate 
the fundamental characteristic of the state under the old 
regime. 

The land rests serenely amid opalescent Southern seas. 
No other state has so much seacoast. For more than a 
thousand miles stretch its gleaming seaward confines — a 
well-marked dividing line between the expanse of the ocean 
and the mysteries of the woods. Long ago Spanish voy- 
agers in search of what Sir Walter Raleigh termed " a mi- 

3 



4 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

raculous fountain of youth " ^ reached this coast. " In the 
same year, 1512 'V records Samuel Purchas, 

John Ponce of Leon, which had been governor of the He of 
Saint John, armed two ships and went to seek the He of Ba- 
yuca, where the naturals of the country reported to be a wel 
which maketh olde men young. Whereupon he laboured to 
find it out, and was in searching of it the space of sixe 
moneths, but could finde no such thing. Hee entered into the 
He of Bimini, and discovered a point of firm land, standing 29. 
degrees toward the North upon Easter-day, and therefore he 
named it Florida.^ 

Mr. Lowery has conceived the country that Ponce and 
his crew saw. " Beyond the shallowing green waters," 
he writes, 

the waves rolled their white crests of foam up the long, hard, 
shell-paved beaches, which formed a silver bar between the 
sea and the dense verdure of the islands along which he was 
coasting. A thick forest of gray cypress, tulip, ash, and mag- 
nolia, with knarled live oaks that reminded the strangers of 
their native land, clad the low sand dunes and marshes of the 
islands and cut the horizon with its dark canopy, above which 
floated the plumes of towering palm groves and the light tufts 
of the broom-pine. Between the islands the eye rested upon 
the glistening surface of lagoons with brilliant borders of rush 
and sedge extending up to the very edge of the mysterious 
forest on the mainland. It was the season of flowers. The 
perfumed breath of the white lily was wafted out to them 
from its humid haunts in the shady nooks of the islands. . . . 
Upon the dark foliage like flights of gaudy butterflies lay 
spread the masses of blue, crimson, and white, the blue flowers 

^ English Voyages in Hakluyt (Maclehose Edit.), v. 12, p. 12. 
' Mr. Shea and Mr. Lowery conclude that the year should be 1513, 
not 1512. 
* Purchas, His Pilgrim, v. 10, p. 2>2>- 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 5 

and coral berries of the liciuin salsium, the andromeda, and the 
azalea ; along the inner shore, between the water's edge and the 
forest, the royal palmetto, crested with pyramids of silver 
white blossom, thrust forth its sword-shaped leaves. Loons 
and Spanish curlew whirled overhead; in the woods strutted 
the wild turkey, saluting the dawn with noisy call from his 
perch on the lofty cypress or the magnolia, and many hued 
humming-birds fluttered from flower to flower.^ 

The virgin splendor of this most Southern state has not 
entirely faded. It possesses still a haunting melancholy 
beauty, all its own and not easily forgotten by those who 
have felt its spell. " I recall in this case," once wrote 
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, " the faintest sensation of 
our voyage, as Ponce de Leon may have recalled those of 
his wandering search in the same soft zone for the secret of 
the mysterious fountain." - 

Placid expanse; sinuous, graceful curves; and gentle un- 
dulation characterize the lay of the land — they are in fact 
the essential qualities in Florida's peculiar beauty. The 
highest point in the state is less than 300 feet above the sea. 
Its streams move slumberously to the ocean. Its low sand 
coast is beaten by tropical hurricane and ocean wave into 
contour of elusive grace. Its innumerable lakes give to the 
interior often the suggested spaciousness of the sea. No, 
other state of the Union has within its borders so much 
lake surface or so many lakes without visible outlet. 

Sidney Lanier once wrote from Tampa of 

" Pale inshore greens and distant blue delights, 
White visionary sails, long reaches fair 
By moon-horn'd strands that film the far-off air." 

He saw the glory of the Southern sea, which is, in part, the 
glory of Florida. 

^ Lowery, Spanish Settlements, v. i, p. 138. 
" Army Life in a Black Regiment, p. 139. 



6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

As you journey across the peninsula the charm created 
by the coast and the ocean is not necessarily dissolved. 
You see many blue lakes as clear and limpid as woodland 
springs, which most of them are. You cross winding 
streams overhung by trees festooned in gray Spanish moss 
that vibrates faintly in the occasional breeze. You skirt 
far-flung green savannahs dense with red and yellow alli- 
gator bonnets. You penetrate deep, cool hammocks where 
strange brilliant flowers flash in the day and where the 
chuck-will-the- widow calls at night amid the jessamine, the 
magnolia, the sweet bay tree, the pine, the oak, and the 
hickory. You pass out upon desolate pine barrens some- 
times as silent as the grave and sometimes filled with the 
sighing and moaning of the wind from the distant sea. 
You look over broad, rich fields that are green or snow- 
white, and from them rise countless lark, whose whistle is 
a merry contrast to the sound of the wind in the pines. 
You pass often between tangles of wild roses, honeysuckle, 
and scuppernong, and you hear a remarkable variety of 
sweet calls from a remarkably fine lot of little birds, — wood 
thrush, swamp sparrow, joe reet, wren, mocking bird, red 
bird, blue bird, chick-a-dee, chee-chee, pop-eyed-molly, and 
eyen blue jay. You find yourself now and then in the midst 
of woodpeckers. About you among the pines, if the day 
be sunny, scramble and chirrup the speckled " sap-sucker ", 
the " yaller-hammer ", the white and black red head, and 
the little mottled gray " worm-chaser ". All are drumming 
away as they push themselves up the trees with their tails. 
You catch occasionally the strident whooping of the swoop- 
ing, red-headed " Lawd Gawd " — the biggest woodpecker 
that flies in America. You frighten fragile blue heron, 
gray crane, brown die-dappers, and tufted kingfishers from 
slumberous creek side and stagnant pool. In the sky above 
no longer sail the gull and cormorant of the sea. Their 
place is taken by the broad-winged turkey buzzard — that 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 



7 



denizen of the upper air in the far South. He sometimes 
drops from more than a thousand feet, and his passage 
through the air makes a sucking, whistHng sound — his only 
note, some say. 

You pass on through the shadows of evening. The 
" varmints " begin to creep from their holes. You 
will probably not see them, but they are a host yet in 
Florida, these timid creatures of the shadows, — 'possum, 
coon, catamount, mink, fox, weasel. In the deeper wood 
small Virginia deer timidly emerge from the titi thickets 
when evening falls. In the more remote and desolate 
swamps panther still cry plaintively beneath the moon. 
Along the banks of the more remote streams otter still slide 
in the night. In the denser huckleberry patches and pal- 
metto jungles small black bear still amble about. Along 
the bayous and lakes of Florida thousands of turtles sun 
themselves in the day and alligators roar at night. And, as 
you pass beneath the moss-draped trees, you will occasion- 
ally catch the beat of unseen wings as the great hoot owl 
passes. His insane though melodious calling suggested 
once to some negro necromancer the following: '' Red, top, 
shoe-boot ; chicken, foot, so good ! ha ! ha'a ! " Lanier's 
poetic conception of some aspects of the land is a fairly 
descriptive one. He saw there 

" Robins and mocking birds that all day long 
Athwart straight sunshine weave cross-threads of song, 
Shuttles of music — clouds of mosses gray 
That rain me rains of pleasant thoughts alway 
From a low sky of leaves — faint yearning psalms 
Of endless metre breathing through the palms 
That crowd and lean and gaze from off the shore 
Ever for one that cometh nevermore — 
Palmettos ranked, with childish spearpoints set 
Against no enemy — rich cones that fret 
High roofs of temples shafted tall with pines — 
Green, grateful mangroves where the sand-beach shines- 
Long lissome coast that in and outward swerves, 
The grace of God made manifest in curves." 



8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

About four hundred years ago European explorers first 
sailed along this coast. More than 350 years ago settlers 
from Spain gained a permanent foothold on the mainland 
in the building of St. Augustine. Spanish occupation, with 
slight interruption, endured almost two and a half centuries 
without developing extended or very prosperous settlement. 
Civilized population was restricted to the neighborhood of 
three or four little towns : Pensacola and St. Marks on the 
Gulf, and St. Augustine and Fernandina on the Atlantic. 
The eastern and the western settlements faced different seas 
and were without connection by land. Each consisted of a 
fringe of farms, trading posts, and forts lying between the 
sea and that tremendous wilderness which Ponce de Leon 
and Hernando de Soto had penetrated in vain search of a 
better land. " The Indians are exceedingly ready with 
their weapons," wrote a gentlemen of Elvas who accom- 
panied De Soto into Florida. " In many places are high 
and dense forests and extensive bogs. . . . Toward the 
west was a place called Cale, the inhabitants of which were 
at war with those of territories where the greater part of 
the year was summer, and where there was so much gold 
that when the people came to make war upon those of Cale 
they wore golden hats like casques." ^ No one has ever 
discovered the rich neighbors of the people of Cale. The 
chronicler of " much gold " in the neighborhood of Florida 
was either the victim or the perpetrator of the first re- 
corded lie on that subject. 

Florida passed into the hands of the British in 1763.^ 
For twenty years England held it, and the change brought 
a short-lived prosperity. Trade thrived as never before 

1 True Relation of ... A Fidalgo of Elvas, Buckingham. Smith's 
translation. 

* Fairbanks, G. R., History of Florida, pp. 149, 162. Treaty of Paris, 
Art. 20, MacDonald, Select Documents, v. i. 



A SLAVE-HOLDIXG COMMONWEALTH g 

with Indian and half-breed trappers. Loyalists, driven out 
of the Southern English colonies by the Whig revolution- 
ists, poured into Florida/ Along the St. Johns and St. 
Mar>-s rivers, new plantations were cleared; more negro 
slaves were brought in to labor ; fields were better tilled ; new 
roads were cut through swamp, glade, and barren ; and the 
English colonist, here as elsewhere, demonstrated his abilit}^ 
to win and transform and hold, after a certain homely 
fashion, a wild region. 

Spanish control was resumed in 1783." Most of the 
British settlers left the colony. Some went to Great Britain ; 
some, to the Bahamas; and some, probably, to the United 
States.^ Plantations were deserted, trade decreased, and 
in a few years Florida had lapsed back into its condition 
before British occupation. Therefore the permanent and 
lasting results of Anglo-Saxon control in colonial Florida 
were very meagre. 

Spanish government in Florida from earliest times was 
mild and paternal and restricted to the narrow limits of 
civilized settlement. The Indians were not tractable and 
made poor slaves. Taxation seems to have been light and 
for local purposes only. When in 1821 the territory Vx-as 
transferred to the United States, the civilized population 
of the region now embracing Florida was not more than 
8,000. More than half of this population was in East 
Florida. St. Augustine contained maybe 2,000 souls — one- 
half whites and the other half negro slaves or free negroes. 
Fernandina had a population of less than 500. The plan- 
tation settlements along the St. ^larys and St. Johns rivers 
contained probably 2.000 more — including slaves. In Vv/est 

1 Fuller in his Purchase of Florida, p. 18, states that during the year 
1778 nearly 7,000 loyalists emigrated to Florida. 
■ Fairbanks, G. R., op. cit., p. 162. 
' Fuller, op. cit., p. 19. 



lO RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Florida (or Gulf Coast Florida) population amounting to 
two or three thousand was confined to Pensacola and St. 
Marks and the immediate vicinities of these two hamlets. 

Economically the country was not self-supporting. Im- 
ports usually far exceeded exports in value and variety. 
Most of the citizens were Spanish officials, farmers, and fur 
traders. Salaries paid by the Spanish government consti- 
tuted the main source of wealth. The white population 
was preponderantly Spanish. In East Florida a consider- 
able element of Minorcans and Italians had drifted in,^ and 
a few English, Irish, and Greeks. In the West population 
was more purely Spanish. 

Life was simple because the people were too poor to make 
it complex. Customs were those of the Spanish Creole, who 
never lost touch with the home country and managed some- 
how to transfuse the crudities of colonial America with 
some of the native grace and urbanity of Spain. The 
" patgo ", the " masquerade ", the " carnival ", the " chi- 
veree ", the " bazoo ", the " fandango ", cock-fighting, 
card-playing, and going to mass were the more usual social 
distractions. This primitive Latin, Catholic, Creole, slave- 
holding society, more than two centuries old in 1821 — and 
therefore ancient for civilized America — was soon swal- 
lowed up by the influx of newcomers from the North, — 
the unwelcome and grasping Americans. - 

^ Fairbanks, op. cit., chap. 25, for account of Dr. Turnbull's colony 
(1763-70) of Greeks and Minorcans. The descendants of these people 
live in East Florida to-day. Also Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. i, 
pp. 86-87; Dewkurst, St. Augustine. 

^ The foregoing references to colonial Florida are based upon the 
following works: Garcillasso de la Vega, Histoire de la Floride, Rich- 
elet, French translation, 1735; Lowery, Spanish Settlements, 2 vols.; 
the accounts of De Soto's expedition by De Beidma, Ranjel, and Elvas ; 
Irving, Conquest of Florida; Averette, Unxvritten History of Old St. 
Augustine, Copied from the Spanish Archives in Seville, covering 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH n 

As settlers moved into southwestern Georgia and Ala- 
bama Territory, Florida became more and more the place 
of retreat for runaway negro slaves, hostile Indians, and 
lawless white men. Its forests were dense and its swamps, 
almost trackless; and for those fleeing from Americans it 
afforded protection as foreign territory. The failure of 
Spain adequately to govern this region which became an 
asylum for the lawless was the occasion for the American 
invasion under Andrew Jackson.^ Florida was in truth 
not an important part of Spain's colonial empire. Acqui- 
sition by the United States was the resultant of Spanish ad- 
ministrative feebleness, the geographical situation of the 
peninsula, and the expansion to natural boundaries of the 
robust and aggressive Northern power. 

The purchase of Florida from Spain was consummated 
during the first great sectional controversy over slavery in 
the territories." The location of the new territory made it 
logically future slave soil. Historically it was slave soil at 

period from 1565 to 1786, Libr. Fla. Hist. Soc. ; Bartram, Travels in 
Florida, London, 1792; Dewhurst, St. Augustine, 1881, a brief secondary 
work; Fairbanks, Hist, of St. Augustine, 1881, a valuable monograph by 
an authority; Fairbanks, Hist, of Florida; Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, 
V. i ; Brinton, Notes on the Florida Peninsula, a valuable work, 1859 ; 
Campbell, Hist. Sketches of Colonial Fla., 1892; Darby, Memoir on 
Geog., etc. . . . of Fla., 1821 ; Libr. Fla. Hist. Soc; Forbes, Sketches 
of the Floridas, 1821, Libr. Fla. Hist. Soc; Brevard and Bennett, 
Hist, and Govt, of Fla., a valuable little book; V/illiams, Hist, of Fla., 
1821. 

^ Fuller, op. cit., chaps. 6-8. " Corresp. between Gen. A. Jackson and 
Jno. C. Calhoun" on Seminole War; a pamphlet (Washington, 1831) 
in Libr. Fla. Hist. Soc, Jacksonville. Sen. Docs., iSth C, 2 S., No. 
100, No. 102, for the official history of Jackson's invasion. H. Docs., 
15th C, 2nd S., No. 119, for Jackson's destruction of Negro Fort. 
Also Ex. Docs., 15th C, 2nd S., No. 82. 

* Fuller, op. cit., passim, is the best study of the Florida Treaty. 

For important sources, see Ex. Papers, i6th C, ist S., No. 96 (1819) ; 
Ex. Docs., i6th C, 1st S., No. 120 (Mess, and papers of Pres. Monroe, 



12 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

that time. Into Florida came ultimately a part of that vast 
host of planters and speculators which, till late in the 
Middle Period, was steadily moving southwestward. The 
splendid " Kingdom of Cotton " was then in the making. 
However, the first Americans to settle in Florida were not 
cotton planters, but poor squatters — " kasions ", " crack- 
ers ", etc. — an ignorant, shiftless, hardy lot of people who 
began to drift over the borders of Florida before the region 
passed into the hands of the United States. These poor 
whites were little interested in slavery or cotton or even 
government. 

In 1822 the military rule of General Jackson was super- 
seded by the civil rule of the territorial council and gov- 
ernor. Florida was divided into counties, laws were 
adopted to regulate civil and criminal practice, and inferior 
courts were established. A Federal commission was ap- 
pointed to examine all land claims originating prior to 
American occupation. It took several years to adjust this 
matter, and in the meantime no public land was sold.^ 

The territorial council met for the first time in Pensa- 
cola — on the western edge of the territory. Its second 
meeting was in St. Augustine — on the eastern edge of the 
territory.- Distances were great and wilderness trails bad. 
Therefore the council sought a site for a capital midway 
between the two inhabited sections.^ 

1819) ; Ex. Papers, i8th C, ist S., No. 55 (Mess, of Monroe). See, 
also, J. L. M. Currjr's "Acquisition of Florida," Am. Hist. Mag., v. 
xix, p. 286. 

* The adjustment of claims proved perplexing. The more important 
documents bearing on the subject are: Ex. Papers, 18th C, ist S., No. 
156 (1824 — Report of Land Commissioners) ; No. 158; Ex. Papers, 
i8th C, 2nd S., No. in; 19th C, ist S., No. 115; Ex. Docs., i8th C, 
2nd S., No. 47. 

* Rerick, op. cit., v. i. 

* " History of the Location of Tallahassee," from House Journal, 
pamphlet, Libr. Fla. Hist. Soc, Jacksonville. 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 



13 



In North Central Florida clear lakes and broad savan- 
nahs divide many ranges of low loam hills. These uplands, 
rich in humus, were then lying fallow, covered with hick- 
ory and oak and pine and myriads of flowers. People in 
search of new homes and good lands had already " pros- 
pected ", by 1823, this fair, virgin region. Here in an old 
Indian field the Territorial Council chose a site for a capital 
which became known as Tallahassee.^ The governor and 
council met there in 1824. 

The building in which they met was humble and roughly 
constructed. The wilderness stretched away on all sides. 
" The assembling and adjournment of the council are the 
events of the year in this territory from which citizens 
date," wrote Mrs. Long. " The interval does not count." ^ 

The second wave of immigration into Florida from the 
United States was more speculative and transitory than 
permanent. Prospectors were seeking good lands at a low 
price, many expecting to sell out when the increase of popu- 
lation should inevitably send up the values of cotton land. 
They were a vigorous, hard-headed, adventurous lot of 
men. " The country was filled with strangers," one man 
writes who experienced this beginning, 

who spread themselves over the country with compass in hand, 

* " Hist, of Location of Tallahassee," H. Journal. Rerick, op. cit., 
V. i, p. 152. Gulf States Hist. Mag., v. i, p. 199, " Selection of Talla- 
hassee." 

' Florida Breezes, Mrs. Ellen Call Long. Mrs. Long was the grand- 
daughter of Rich. Keith Call who became Governor of Florida in 
1835. Her book is rambling and occasionally confused but replete 
with interesting observations and discussions of society in ante-bellum 
Florida. Beyond her own experiences her sources were evidently the 
recollections and miscellaneous memoirs of her grandfather and her 
many friends. The work is out of print and now very difficult to 
find. The author consulted the copy in the British Museum, London, 
published after the Civil War. 



14 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



according to the marked lines, examining the lands, taking 
notes, keeping profound silence, and avoiding one another. 
Perhaps some of them have bought from a surveyor the sup- 
posed secret of an excellent and unknown section. Little 
portable plans, mysteriously figured, circulate privately. Noth- 
ing is talked of but lands, their qualities, probable prices, etc. 
Intrigue and knavery the most unblushing display themselves 
in all their lustre.^ 

The newcomers came from all parts of the Union. Most 
of them can, with safety, be denominated slave-holders. 
Radical free-soilism did not touch Florida. The territory 
was spared that conflict of ethical ideas and material inter- 
ests which was then surely dividing the nation and which 
produced bloody Kansas and the great war a generation 
later. 

The Federal land office was opened at Tallahassee in 
1825. This land sale was an event of significance for this 
unformed commonwealth whose wealth was based pros- 
pectively upon extensive agriculture. " Land speculators 
anticipating the influx of immigration ' had flocked ' to the 
territory and bought land of the Indian for a trifle, sup- 
posing the title good ; and those who came to make perma- 
nent homes were disappointed to find locations occupied 
and held by large grants." ^ The Federal authorities prob- 
ably put an end to such hastily acquired titles. 

When the day arrived for the first sale of public lands, a 

^ Murat, America and the Americans, p. 59. Chas. Louis Napoleon 
Achille Murat, son of Napoleon's sister Caroline and Marshal Murat 
who became King of Naples, came to Florida early in the 20's, made 
the territory his home, married a Floridian (Miss Willis), and lived 
many years near Tallahassee. His book on America devotes some 
space to society in an American " territory ". Obviously, he wrote 
about Florida, which was the part of the Union best known to him. 
See Rerick, op. cit., v. i, p. 153. 

^ Long, op. cit., p. 45. 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 15 

heterogeneous crowd of speculating land sharks, planters, 
small farmers, squatters, " kasions ", country lawyers and 
confidence men had come together in Tallahassee. Prince 
Achille Murat, recalling this incident probably — for he 
was in Florida at the time — wrote from Italy as follows : 

The hour approaches. The poor squatter runs about town. 
He has been laboring all the year that he may buy the land on 
which his house is situated. Perhaps for want of a dollar or 
two it will be taken from him by the greedy speculators. 
Anxiety and trouble are depicted on his honest and wild coun- 
tenance. A jobber accosts him, pities him, and offers to with- 
draw his pretentions for the sum of $3.00. The poor simpleton 
gives it to him not doubting that the jobber cannot now bid 
against him. This is what is called " hush money ". The 
cryer puts up the land by eights, beginning by a section and 
township in regular order. The prices are different but the 
sale always opens at $1.25 per acre. . . . An old Indian vil- 
lage, a situation for a mill, the plantation of a squatter, a place 
to which a road or river leads, or which seems likely to become 
the seat of a city or entrepot, — are so many circumstances 
which augment the value of land tenfold or more.^ 

The sale of the choicer public land meant the advent of 
more settled economic and social conditions. Immigrants 
continued to come into the territory. Most of them pushed 
on past the old towns of entry — Pensacola, St. Augustine, 
Fernandina — and sought the richer uplands of the interior. 
The census of 1834 showed a total population of 34,739, 
of whom full 20,000 lived in those new counties between 
the Chipola and Suwanee rivers — North Central Florida. 
The settlers came from practically every section of the 
Union. The majority hailed from Virginia, Tennessee, the 
Carolinas, and Georgia. The town of Jacksonville on the 
St. Johns river was laid out in 1822. It was destined within 

* Murat, op. cit., p. 60. 



l6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

a few years to become the chief town of East Florida. Pen- 
sacola, the old town in the extreme west, was gaining popu- 
lation and trade. More than 2,000 bales of cotton and a 
quarter of a million feet of sawed lumber were exported 
from there in 1824. Between the Chipola and Suwanee, 
settlements expanded into towns which some of the opti- 
mistic inhabitants would have told you were the finest in the 
Union. Quincy, Monticello, Marianna, and Tallahassee 
were hamlets in size, but each was the metropolis for its 
section. They were situated along the St. Augustine road, 
a rough wilderness way cleared through the forest from 
Pensacola on the Gulf to St. Augustine on the Atlantic. 

The first general election was held in 1825 to choose a 
delegate to the Federal Congress. It was hotly contested 
and definitely marks the beginning of election politics in 
Florida. The methods employed then were essentially the 
same as those of later generations. " For some months 
previous the candidates and their friends have been in mo- 
tion, making calls from habitation to habitation, trying to 
persuade, excuse, explain," writes Achille Murat. 

In general the friends take more trouble than the candidates 
themselves. The Governor by proclamation fixes the day and 
divides the country into precincts, in each of which he chooses 
a central house and appoints three election judges. These 
dignitaries meet in the morning and swear, kissing the Bible, 
to conduct themselves with integrity. They seat themselves 
around a table at a window. An old cigar box patched up with 
a hole in the lid, a sheet of paper and a writing desk form the 
materials of the establishment. Everyone presents himself 
outside the window, gives his name, which is registered upon a 
paper, deposits his ballot in a box presented to him and with- 
draws ; if the judges doubt his qualifications as to residence or 
age they administer the' oath to him. Within the room every- 
thing passes in an orderly manner, but it is not the same out- 
side. The roads are soon filled with horses and carts. The 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 17 

electors arrive in troops, laughing and singing, often half- 
tipsy since the morning and exciting one another to support 
their favorite candidate. They or their friends present them- 
selves to the electors as they arrive with ballots ready pre- 
pared, often printed, and expose themselves to their jokes and 
coarseness. Every newcomer is questioned about his vote and 
is received with applause or hisses. An influential man pre- 
sents himself to vote, declares his opinions and reasons in a 
short speech; the tumult ceases for a moment and he draws 
away many people after him. Nobody offers to molest him. 
Meanwhile whiskey circulates. Toward evening everybody 
is more or less tipsy, and it is not often that the sovereign peo- 
ple abdicate their power without general battle in which 
nobody knows what he is about, and in which all those who 
have managed to retain their carriage take good care not to 
embroil themselves. Everybody goes home to sleep. The 
judges scrutinize the suffrage and send the result to the capital. 
The next day beaten and beat are as good friends as if nothing 
had happened.^ 

This is a rather lurid account of a territorial election, but it 
probably reflects well enough the rough-and-tumble spirit 
and the inebriety of the frontier. Conduct was more dis- 
graceful a generation after Florida had ceased to be fron- 
tier country. 

Politics kept pace with material development in Florida. 
The middle counties, containing most of the prosperous 
planter class, had become by 1830 the dominant section of 
the territory. The counties of Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, 
Jefferson, and Madison — all organized between 1822 and 
1827 — contained about two-thirds of the population in 
1830. Spreading over the gently rolling uplands, planta- 
tions flanked lake and savannah with a misty expanse of 
white when the cotton opened. Fields of cotton and corn 

* Murat, op. cit., p. 68; also account in Long, op. cit., passim. 



l8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

replaced immense areas of forest. Splendid homes were 
being built by the more prosperous — built sometimes of 
brick and stone where ten years before an unbroken wil- 
derness had stood. Such development indicates tre- 
mendous optimism and the extravagance VN^hich goes with 
it. But such evidences of prosperity were not entirely vul- 
gar. The severe and simple lintels; the tall white col- 
umns; the spacious and simple interiors; the general ab- 
sence of cheap attempts at ornate architecture ; the substan- 
tial beauty and quaint harmony of tables, chairs, beds, and 
cupboards, — reflect an aspiration at least after the best 
of the past. The Latin and Greek works upon the book- 
shelves of many homes indicate the same thing. The 
few hundred aristocracy of Central Florida were a moder- 
ately cultured and eminently forceful lot of people. 

By the advent of the thirties weekly newspapers were 
published in the various towns of this section, setting forth 
the opinions and doings of the planter class. Local, na- 
tional, and foreign questions were discussed with a gravity 
and dryness which suggest the conservative English jour- 
nals. " Reviews and magazines, literary journals and 
novelties of every sort came to us from New York, Phila- 
delphia, and England at a moderate price and a month or 
two after their publication over the Atlantic," writes a citi- 
zen. " I had read, I have no doubt, the last romance of Sir 
Walter Scott before it had reached Vienna." Some of the 
works offered for sale in a Tallahassee book-store in 183 1 
were as follows : Blake's Botany, Good's Study of Medi- 
cine, Murphy's Tacitus, Benson's Sermons, Homer's Iliad, 
Robertson's America, Scotland, Charles V, Jefferson's 
Notes on Virginia, Herodotus' History, Rollin's Ancient 
History, Moore's Poems, Scott's Prose Works, Fielding's 
Tom Jones, Byron's Works, Irving's Columbus, Memoirs 
of Napoleon, The Arabian Nights, and a host of other 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 



19 



books of as varied a quality/ All this is indicative of a 
certain urbanity and culture, though not of a demand for 
the latest and liveliest books. 

Life was not over refined with the upper class. There 
was considerable gambling, drinking, horse-racing, and bet- 
ting. Each town soon had its own jockey club. Fatal 
duels were often fought in formal fashion. Fast horses and 
bright colors were in evidence.^ Yet the whites — rich and 
poor — were a religious people. Religion afforded both con- 
solation and amusement. Most of the planters were Metho- 
dists or Episcopalians. The year of the founding of Talla- 
hassee witnessed the organization of the Methodist Church 
of the District of Tallahassee with a minister in charge.* 
The following year Tallahassee became an Episcopal mis- 
sion station.* Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, 
and Baptists all established churches in Florida before the 
end of its first decade as American territory. The Roman 
Catholic church had been established in Florida for more 
than two centuries. " There is no church building here " 
(in Tallahassee), writes Mrs. Long of the early days, 

but there is a Tyng, which is a good name and true — synony- 
mous with sound teaching, present usefulness and ancestral 
claims. The place of worship is the arena of many purposes ; 
sometimes a court room in trial and pleadings ; again for politi- 
cal discussions ; at night, a dance hall ; and sometimes there 
players lived their mimic life. The congregation was well 

' Floridian and Advocate, Jan. 20, 1831. 

^ See Jockey Club notices in Florida papers in Congressional Library, 
Washington. For examples, Floridian, Jan. 5 and Feb. 2, 1839. Also, 
Long, Florida Breezes, p. 99. 

3 Smith, History of Wesleyan Methodism, p. 228. 

* Within fifteen years Episcopal parishes were established in Key 
West, St. Augustine, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, St. Joseph, 
Marianna and Quincy. Daniels, Episcopal Church in Florida, passim. 



20 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

dressed ; gentlemen in fine blue cloth, brass buttons, high black 
stocks and stiff sharp-cornered collars and ruffled bosoms, 
though a little out of date gave none the less an air of marked 
elegance in their appearance.^ 

Cotton fields were spreading out and planters were be- 
coming prosperous because cotton was paying. The abun- 
dant yield of the earth gave stability to society. Early 
dwelling places became old homes. Those who had come 
to the new land remained. The ivy crept over walls. Men 
and women had about them children who had known no 
home but Florida.^ " There are a thousand nameless ties, 
kindred thoughts and deep sympathies that make a chain of 
friendships for these country people," writes Mrs. Long. 

On through the town we passed, welcomed by a chorus of 
barking dogs accompanied or varied by the whooping or whist- 
ling of boys. Lights from the unshuttered or thinly-draped 
windows speak of home life, but the streets had no illumina- 
tion save a shower of moonlight that poured a wealth of beauty 
upon the scene, its effulgence streaming in through the dark 
green of centenary oaks which lined the streets.^ 

The nativizing of population did not produce complete 
homogeneity. People came into Florida with sectional idio- 
syncrasies developed, and these characteristics were handed 
down to the second and third generation. There were com- 
munities of Virginians, and communities of South Caro- 
linians, and communities of Georgians, etc. West Florida's 
population differed from East Florida's; and Central Flor- 
ida's, from both. 

The planter was generally enlightened and prosperous. 
Within his class should be included the merchants and pro- 

^ Long, op. cit., p. 72. 

^ See Murat, op. cit., pp. 66, 74 et seq. 

' Long, op. cit., pp. 55 and 72. 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 21 

fessional men. Prosperity was not enjoyed by all classes 
of whites. The little farmers and squatters in the sparsely 
settled counties led lives which in material appointments 
were only slightly above the savage. Corn pone, clabber, 
youpon tea, dried beef, venison, and occasionally wild 
honey constituted their fare until civilization brought 
nearer their habitations salt pork, razor-backs, and coffee. 
Their houses were rude log huts with dirt floors, unglazed 
windows, and mud chimneys.^ They were neighbors to 
the Seminole and Creek Indians, and when the final struggle 
came with the Seminoles the poor whites suffered most. 

Mild-mannered, kindly, and indolent, they were as hos- 
pitable as they were poor. A few of the more prosperous 
owned a negro slave of two. Occasionally a cracker accu- 
mulated property and became a planter. Mrs. Long de- 
scribes meeting a family of poor whites in Florida. 

The residence of Mr. Smith consists of two log rooms on sills 
connected by an open passage upon the floor of which reposed 
a white man who used a reversed hide-bottom chair as a 
pillow. Peeping from the door was a slouchy white woman 
who wore a dirty sun-bonnet, who upon our halting before the 
gate called " Alik Smith ! Alik Smith ! I keep on telling you 
to git up ! Git up, Alik Smith ; thar's folks a' callin' on you at 
the gate ! " Finally the intelligence of Mr. Smith was aroused, 
and yawning and stretching he came out to greet us : " An' I 
declar, its you. Mister Maclean, to be sure. I hearn as how you 
had gone down below. Light, gentlemen, hitch yer critters — 
that damn lazy scoundrel is nary time about when he's wanted 
— but thar's the rascal now. Horcules, see how you give feed 
to them horses ! Wal, strangers, you must know as how nig- 
gers is moughty high an' gittin' higher. It took my level best 
with five crops on this poor piney land to git done payin for 

' See reference to these people in Smith, op. cit., pp. 265, 306; Murat, 
op. cit., passim; Dc Bow's Reviezv, etc. 



22 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Horcules.' As we got under the roof of the building, for it 
can scarcely be called entering a house, he called aloud to the 
woman no longer seen, — " Ole Sweet, push up the pot for the 
gentlemen will be agying hungry " ; and with the diffuse man- 
ners of a grand chamberlain he offered us seats which he 
called " cheers ", adding, " make yourselves at home, gentle- 
men ". Then he placed part of his body on a chair while his 
legs were extended up and down, resting on the rough paling 
that partially empaled the passage. A quid of tobacco com- 
pleted his ease, and he was ready for the enjoyment of society. 
" Wal, gentlemen, what's the news? " ^ 

As the territory grew the usual phenomena of economic 
and political organization were manifest. The principal 
issue in territorial Florida for political controversy was 
but the local phase of a great national question, namely, 
to what extent should government aid and control banks. 
In Florida the controversy began ^t an early date. The 
governor vetoed bills of the territorial council in 1824 for 
the incorporation of certain banks because he believed that 
such banks would prove to be " unsuited to the genius and 
spirit of our free institutions ".^ With the advent of An- 
drew Jackson as President the entire nation became more 
or less disturbed over the national aspect of this question. 

The heavy cotton planters of interior Florida were the 
exponents and local apostles of banks. In 1828 the Bank 
of Florida was incorporated. Within the next five years 
the craze of the times for financial organization showed 
itself in Florida. Numerous insurance companies and 
banks with large capital stock and broad powers were in- 
corporated — such, for instance, as the Central Bank of 
Tallahassee, the Union Bank of Tallahassee, and the South- 

1 Long, op. cit., p. 52. 

2 Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. i, p. 157. 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 



23 



crn Life and Insurance Company of St. Augustine. The 
most important of all was the Union Bank of Tallahassee. 
Its charter was fashioned after that of the Union Bank of 
Louisiana.^ Its initial capital, $3,000,000, was obtained 
from the sale of Territorial bonds. The property of the 
stockholders to the amount of the shares was mortgaged 
to the territory as security for the bonds issued." This 
bank was not the only financial institution aided by the ter- 
ritory. The Bank of Pensacola received $500,000 in bonds 
in guarantee of its securities, and the Southern Life In- 
surance and Trust Company, $395,000. 

The Union Bank thrived from the first. It was a brilliant 
and advanced scheme. " Yes, it started with a capital of 
$1,000,000 and that is increased to $3,000,000 by exchang- 
ing the certificates of subscribers for territorial bonds 
which were sold in Europe. They found purchasers in 
London — a wonderful success, considering the resources 
of the territory, and could have been accomplished only by 
men so well known," writes Mrs. Long in discussing the 
bank. 

General Mercer represented Virginia in Congress for thirty 
years, besides, he was President of the Colonization Society 
which gave him eclat in England, and Col. Gamble is also 
known abroad. You want to know how it operates ? Well, 

' Reply of the Board of Directors of the Union Bank, p. 4. A very- 
full discussion of the policy and record of the Union Bank, British 
Museum, London. 

' Reply of Board of Directors, pp. 4, 10, 95. In 1840 the Directors 
stated that to secure the bonds issued (to the amount of $2,917,800) 
246,419 acres of land were mortgaged to the territory, valued at $1,- 
968,800; 2,680 slaves, valued at $938,000. The average value of the 
land mortgaged per acre was $8.00, while at the time farming land in 
Leon Co. sold for from $15.00 to $30.00 per acre. The slaves were 
mortgaged at $350 each, while their average market value was over 
$600.00. 



24 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



you see a man can mortgage his land and negroes ; draw from 
the bank two-thirds (in money) of the value, which will be 
reinvested in more land and negroes. One or two crops of 
cotton will redeem all obligations — so you see it is the best 
thing afloat; a man can just go to sleep and wake up rich. 
" Go to sleep," remarked one, " is a good suggestion, but un- 
fortunately too many are wide awake, spending money in dis- 
play when their very shovel and tongs in the kitchen belong 
to the bank." ^ 

The increase of cotton fields and population in Florida, 
Georgia, and Alabama produced a noticeable effect on Gulf 
Coast shipping. Mobile absorbed most of the cotton which 
territorially belonged to Pensacola, and many cargoes of 
cotton by 1835 went annually from St. Marks.' St. Marks 
was the point of shipment for the planters of Leon, Jef- 
ferson, and Madison counties.^ The first railway of Flor- 
ida was built from Tallahassee to St. Marks in 1834. 

Near the mouth of the Apalachicola river the town of 
Apalachicola was incorporated in 1831. Its trade with the 
interior was soon flourishing. River steamers for the 
Chattahoochee and Flint valleys loaded and unloaded along 
its water front. Ocean-going ships carried its cotton and 
timber to Europe and the North. The channel was dredged 
to admit bigger ships. Brick business blocks and spacious 
warehouses were built. By 1836 it was the third cotton 
port in the Gulf. Three years later its weekly newspaper 
became a daily.* 

Within twenty-five miles of Apalachicola a land and im- 
provement company established the tow^n of St. Joseph on 
a deep and well-sheltered bay. In 1839 its backers claimed 
for it a population of more than 4,000 and a commerce in 

' Long, op. cit., p. 84. ^ Smith, op. cit., p. 265. 

' Ihid., p. 305. * Rerick, op. cit., v. i, p. 167. 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 25 

cotton of more than 100,000 bales annually. A railroad, 
churches, newspapers, docks, banks, warehouses, shops, 
bar-rooms, cheap hotels, and rough gambling places gave 
this new town the reputation and air of a metropolis, and 
with some of the more Godly the notoriety of being a 
" wicked city ", that would come to no good end. It be- 
came an intense business rival of Apalachicola. The ter- 
ritorial constitutional convention met in St. Joseph during 
1838-9. 

The end of the town was swift and tragic. Yellow fever 
of the most malignant type fairly wiped it out in 1841. 
The people there " died like flies ". Many fled the town. 
The living who remained could hardly bury the dead. "My 
Pa saved me because he was a horse-doctor and believed in 
ile and bleedin' ," one aged survivor said to me. To-day 
two graveyards and vine-covered ruins are all that remain 
of the " wicked city " of St. Joseph. About it stand the 
enigmatical solitudes of Florida — the haunt to-day of the 
owl, the alligator, and the whip-poor-will. Verily the 
Godly of territorial Florida have had their prophecy come 
true.^ 

But ere the end of St. Joseph, that national wave of opti- 
mism which had been instrumental in creating it had reached 
its height. Apalachicola, Jacksonville, and the whole line 
of interior towns along the St. Augustine Road were partly 
products of " flush times ". Like the sea waves that eter- 
nally roll in on more than a thousand miles of Florida 
coast, the wave of optimism and speculation broke. The 
dreadful panic of 1837 — the worst in our history — found 
Florida still a sparsely-settled territory built up mainly on 
future hopes and sufficiently dependent upon outside capital 
to share the disaster of the financial shock. The years 

^ Rerick, op. cit., v. i, p. 167. 



26 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

1835-36 were " flush " over the whole South. Cotton was 
high. The banks seemed prosperous. People were extra- 
vagant. " Those pictures you see of Napoleon's battles," 
remarked a Florida planter before the panic, " cost me a 
whole crop of cotton." ^ Speculation was wild. Paper 
promises were abundant. Good land was cheap. "To make 
more cotton, to buy more negroes, to make more cotton and 
so on in a vicious circle was the rule of the planter." " 

The panic, the contraction of credit, the public distrust 
of banks, and the consequent business depression which 
followed the year 1837 hurt the reputation and prestige of 
the banking party in Florida. It constituted by this time a 
fairly well-defined political group which included some of 
the wealthiest planters and slave-holders — the moneyed 
aristocracy. 

Governor Call, in discussing the disastrous effects of the 
panic, declared that 

the incorporation of banking companies without capital and 
with the extraordinary privilege of raising millions of money 
on the faith and responsibility of the Territory, the expanded 
issues of these institutions beyond their capacity to redeem the 
paper thrown by them into circulation, the great facilities af- 
forded to individuals for procuring money and extending their 
credit, gave to every species of property a ficticious value and 
seduced even the most prudent and cautious into wild and 
hazardous speculation. . . . The records of our courts present 
a frightful picture of the indebtedness of our people, and dur- 
ing the past summer some instances occurred of immense sac- 
rifice of property sold under execution.^ 

In the struggle for the formation of a state constitution 

' Long, op. cit., p. 139. 

' Smith, op. cit., p. 321. 

' Rerick, op. cit., v. i, p. 165, message of Gov. R. K. Call. 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 



27 



at St. Joseph in 1839 the principal points of controversy 
were: i, What powers should be extended to banks? 2, 
What aid should be given banks by the government ? ^ 
When the constitution was finally submitted to the people 
for ratification, the contest was, primarily, between those 
who favored the incorporation of banks with liberal char- 
ters and who would continue government endorsement of 
certain banks' securities, and those who would limit strictly 
the business of banks and who would discontinue the prac- 
tice of government endorsement." So bitter became the 
contest between Democrats and Whigs that riot was threat- 
ened in Tallahassee.^ The Democrats supported the pro- 
posed constitution and opposed the renewal of the bank 
charters.* They declared that the capital of the Union 
Bank, for instance, was insecure; that the stock had been 
unevenly distributed over the territory; that its loans had 
been dictated by rank favoritism; that its administration 
had not been honest.^ The Whigs opposed the adoption of 
the constitution and championed the banks. They were 
stigmatized by their opponents as the " Federal Whig 
Bankocracy who desire a division of the territory, abolition, 
and faith bonds." ^ The campaign of 1840 resulted in the 
ratification of the constitution by a narrow margin, the 
election of a Democratic delegate to Congress, and the 
sending of a heavy Democratic majority to the territorial 
legislature.'' The Whigs were beaten. 

' See debate, Floridian, Jan. 5, 1839. 
' Floridian, March 9, 1839. 
' Rerick, op. cit., v. i. 
* Floridian, Aug. 3, 1839. 
' Reply of Directors, pp. 5-6. 
' Floridian, Apr. 4, 1840. 

''Floridian, Oct. 3, 1840; Rerick, op. cit., v. i, pp. 168-172. Seventeen 
of the 27 delegates to the territorial legislature were Democrats. Es- 



28 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The constitution expressly stipulated that the " general 
assembly shall not pledge the faith and credit of the State 
to raise funds in aid of any corporation whatsoever." 
Furthermore, the legislature was forbidden to pass an act 
of incorporation " unless with the assent of at least two- 
thirds of each house," and no " banking corporation " could 
exist " composed of less than twenty individuals, a majority 
of whom shall be residents of the State." No bank charter 
should be granted for a longer period than twenty years 
and no bank charter should " be extended or renewed." 
The charters of banks granted by the legislature should 
" restrict such banks to the business of exchange, discount, 
and deposit; and they shall not speculate or deal in real- 
estate or the stock of other corporations or associations or 
the merchandise or chattels or be concerned in insurance, 
manufacturing, exportation or importation except of bullion 
or specie." Finally, the constitution stipulated that the 
capital stock of " any bank " should be created only by the 
actual payment of specie, that " no dividends of profits ex- 
ceeding lo per cent per annum on the capital stock paid 
in " should be made ; that all profits above lo per cent should 
be set apart and " retained as a safety fund " ; and that " no 
president, cashier or other officer of any banking com- 
pany " ^ should be eligible for any state office until twelve 
months after he had severed his official connection with all 
banks. In regard to state control of banks this constitu- 
tion was the most drastic produced in the Union before the 
Civil War. 

The approval of this constitution by the people meant 

cambia, Walton, Jackson, Gadsden, and Madison counties went solidly- 
Whig and for banks. Three out of four delegates from Leon county, 
the most populous in Florida, were anti-bank or Democratic. 

1 H. Docs. (U. S.), 59th C, 2nd S., No. 357, v. ii (Thorpe's Consti- 
tutions), Const. 1838, Arts. 6 and 13. 



A SLAVE-HOLDING COMMONWEALTH 29 

that the political power of the larger slave-holders was seri- 
ously shaken. In reality, 1840 witnessed a backwoods 
revolution against the conditions which capitalism had im- 
posed. Florida was controlled by Jacksonian Democrats, 
although in this year, 1840, the Whigs gained the control 
of the national government. In Florida the poor whites 
and small slave-holders attacked their more successful 
neighbors because they believed these neighbors intended 
" to clothe with purple and fine linen the planters of Central 
Florida " ; and because they knew that the richer planters 
were strong enough and able enough to seek successfully 
capital from abroad and were already dominating the terri- 
torial government to pledge land and to grant franchises to 
the local rich class in order that this class might " shave its 
own bills in Wall Street." ' 

Florida was ready for statehood. Before it Vv^as admitted 
to the Union it passed through a long and terrible Indian 
war. 

* Rerick, op. cit.. v. i, p. 166. 



CHAPTER II 
The Last Years of the Ante-Bellum Regime 

The financial depression which followed the panic of 
1837 and the seven years' war with the Seminole Indians 
which began in 1835, were terrible misfortunes for Florida. 
Half-cleared fields covered with weeds, " belted trees 
stripped of foliage standing like masts of ships "/ boom 
towns no longer booming, rail fences rotting to earth, 
houses abandoned in process of construction, clambering 
wild vines half-hiding some task given up, devastated and 
deserted plantations, the desolate ashes of squatters' cabins, 
the new graves of the massacred in the gloom of the prime- 
val wilderness, and the frightful traditions that went abroad 
of forays by savages termed " wild beasts and hell 
hounds " ; ^ these were some of the scars of the double blow 
which had stricken Florida. " It will take us twenty-five 
years to get over the Seminole War and the Union Bank," 
was the opinion expressed by some.^ "The tide of prosper- 
ity which once flowed over our land has receded," declared 
Governor Call, " and has been followed by a universal de- 
rangement of business, a depreciated currency, prostration 
of credit, and the embarrassment of the whole community 
. . . which can only be overcome by years of patient labor, 
industry, and economy." * 

The Seminole War involved heavy loss. 20,000 volun- 

* Long, Florida Breezes, p. 209. 

* Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. i, p. 200, Message of Gov. Reid. 
' Long, ibid., p. 209. 

* Rerick, ibid., v. i, p. 165, Message of Gov. Call. 

30 



LAST YEARS GF THE ANTE-BELLUM REGIME 31 

teers had been called out in Florida and neighboring states 
for service against the Indians. For six years about 4,000 
regular troops had been on duty. The national govern- 
ment had expended more than $20,000,000 in maintain- 
ing and operating its troops. More than 1,000 lives had 
been lost in campaigning. Outlying settlements had been 
burned and the inhabitants massacred. The Seminoles had 
fought like tigers and the reputations of more than one 
American general had suffered.^ 

In spite of misfortunes the population of the territory 
increased steadily. By 1846 it was 58,000. Florida was 
entitled, therefore, to admission into the Union of states.^ 
In accordance with the principle of balanced representation 
in the Senate between free soil and slave soil, bills for the 
admission of Florida and Iowa were coupled together. 
The former entered the Union on the 3rd of March, 1845 ! 
the latter, in 1846.^ 

The new Southern state began its career with local politi- 
cal parties active and well established. Within a few years 
the discussion of slavery in the territories deeply colored 
politics in Florida. The entire nation was then moving into 
the thick of this controversy. The Democrats controlled 

' For Seminole War see particularly: Sen. Docs., 26th C, ist S., No. 
278; Ex. Docs., 2Sth C, 2nd S., No. 78. 

Also following documents : Ex. Docs., 25th C, 2nd S., No. 299 ; H. 
Docs., 26th C, 1st S., No. 136, No. 142; 28th C, ist S., No. 70; Sen. 
Docs., 26th C, 2nd S., No. 226, No. 227; 29th C, ist S., No. 22. 

The following secondary works are valuable : Fairbanks, History of 
Florida; Sprague, Origin, Progress and Conclusion of the Florida 
War, 1848; Potter, The War in Florida, by a staff officer, 1836; Cohen, 
Notices of Florida and the Campaigns, 1836; Coe, Red Patriots; Gid- 
dings, J. 'R., The Exiles of Florida, 1858; Perrine, A True Story of 
Some Eventful Years in Grandpa's Life, 1885 (a tremendously real- 
istic account of an Indian massacre, etc.). 

* H. Docs., 28th C, 2nd S., No. iii, resolutions of Fla. legislature. 

' See Wilson, Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, v. ii, chap. i. 



32 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

the government in 1846. They had successfully attacked 
the rich Whig planters of Central Florida in 1840. The 
strength of the Democrats lay in the counties east of the 
Suwanee river — East Florida. Their opponents, the Whigs, 
were strongest in the western and central counties. In 
1848 the Whigs carried the state — electing the governor, 
controlling the legislature, and casting the state's presi- 
dential vote for General Taylor.^ This was the last Whig 
victory. The Democrats regained control of the state two 
years later, and held it in their grip until secession took it 
out of the Union and brought a revolution which before it 
ended overthrew and discredited the Democratic party. 

The most significant phenomena of these ten years pre- 
ceding the great war were the steady development of a mili- 
tant pro-slavery sentiment and the spread of cotton fields 
and railroads. Those who owned the cotton fields, pro- 
moted the railroads, and controlled the government were 
slave-holders. The majority of the whites were non-slave- 
holders. They belonged to this class not from principle but 
because they were too poor to belong to the other. In 1850 
the population of the five cotton counties of Central Flor- 
ida was approximately 39,000. The population of the state 
was 87,445, 39,000 of whom were negro slaves. More 
than 22,000 of these slaves were in the five cotton counties 
of Central Florida (Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, and 
Madison). In the other counties the white population ex- 
ceeded the black about three to one.' Those whites in 
Florida who held slaves numbered at this time probably 
3,000. 

The output of cotton fields, turpentine orchards, and lum- 
ber camps constituted the exportable wealth of the state. ^ 

^ Floridian and Journal, Oct. 3; Oct. 4; Nov. 11, 1848. 
' Census of 1850. 

* Floridian, Feb. 18, Sept. 25, Sept. 27, 1858. Floridian and Journal, 
Apr. 30, 1859. De Bozv's Review, passim. 



LAST YEARS OF THE ANTE-BELLUM R&GIME 33 

Almost everything consumed except vegetables, forage, and 
corn meal was imported. The planter bought his goods 
from the jobber merchant in the towns. The jobber pur- 
chased them generally in the Northern or Western states. 
Even salt meat came to many plantations of Florida from 
the West via New Orleans. Mules and horses in large 
numbers came from Tennessee and Kentucky.'- Most im- 
ports and exports passed through Pensacola, St. Marks, 
and Apalachicola on the Gulf; and Jacksonville and Fer- 
nandina on the Atlantic. In the summer months many 
of the more prosperous inhabitants left the coast towns 
and sought a cooler portion of the country. When 
the autumn came the families returned; cotton began to 
arrive by river boats and railway ; ocean-going ships entered 
the harbors to take the cotton to distant ports; trade and 
industry revived; and usually a season of gayety followed 
which to this day old inhabitants look back on through 
the enchanted vista of the " good times before the War " 
when they were young. Florida's public economy was typi- 
cally that of the far-southern slaveholding commonwealth. 
Cotton fields were many and large and factories few and 
small. - 

The decade of the fifties was a period of unusual eco- 
nomic activity.^ " Boom " enterprises in Florida began 

^ De Bow's Review. 

2 According to the Federal census of i860 only $1,874,125 were in- 
vested in Florida manufactories, which employed 2,454 workers. $886,- 
000 of this amount was invested in Santa Rosa County, mostly in saw- 
mills. 

* De Bow's Review, Apr., 1853, passim. In 1850 there were less than 
50 miles of railway in Florida. The creation of the Internal Improve- 
ment Fund by the state in 1855 was a prime cause of the steady ex- 
pansion of railway lines. The directors of this fund endorsed rail- 
way bonds to the amount of $10,000 per mile and gave, in addition, 
huge grants of land to the corporations. See Minutes of Trustees of 



34 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

again. Railroads were projected and built with energy. 
380 miles of railway were constructed and put into opera- 
tion during the decade ending i860, at a cost of more than 
$8,000,000.^ Florida surpassed Louisiana, Texas, and Ar- 
kansas in added railroad mileage for this period. More 
saw-mills were built; more roads were blazed out; more 
turpentine was extracted from the trees; more fields were 
cleared for the cultivation of cotton and corn." Settlers 
poured into the central peninsular counties — Alachua and 
Marion, particularly. The state's population went from 
87,445 in 1850 to 140,427 in 1860.^ Of the 77,747 free 
whites in Florida by the latter year, 42,145 were natives of 
other states and foreign countries. 1,725 were natives of 
the North. The value of the real and personal property 
rose from $22,862,270.00 in 1850 to $73,101,500.00 in 
i860.* The influence of Wall Street in the state's develop- 

Internal Improvement Fund, 5 vols., 1855, Florida Historical Society, 
Jacksonville. Also Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. i, pp. 168-180. 

Concerning the condition of transportation and communication by- 
stage line, river boat, and sea-going steamer, see Floridian and Journal, 
Dec. 29, 1849; May 5, 1857; Nov. 20, 1858; East Floridian, Nov. 10, 
Dec. IS, 1859; Florida News, Feb. 17, Apr. 14, May 5, Dec. 23, 1858; 
Hunt's Magazine, July, 1851; Banker's Magazine, Feb., 1859; De Bozt/s 
Review, Jan. and July, 1859. 

* Census of i860. 

* The Federal Census of 1830 reported 349,049 acres of improved 
farm land in Florida; the census of i860 reported 654,213 acres. The 
horses and cattle in Florida increased from 250,000 to 450,000 head ; 
the cotton produced from 45,000 to 65,000 bales ; corn, from 2,000,000 
bushels to 3,000,000 bushels, etc. See Floridian and Journal, Feb. 8, 
1851; Feb. 4, Apr. 25, July 11, 1857; Feb. 6, 1858; May 21, May 28, 
Sept. 17, 1859. See also Message of Gov. Perry on the condition of 
railways and general economic development, East Floridian, Dec. 10, 
1859; Jan. 19, i860. 

. * Census of 1850, i860. 

* Census of i860. This is not the " assessed valuation " but is given 
as the " intrinsic ", market, or true valuation. 



LAST YEARS OF THE ANTE-BELLUM REGIME 35 

ment then was about as obvious as it is to-day. The grow- 
ing cotton and lumber trade to Europe was financed through 
New York. Railway bonds and other securities were 
marketed there.'^ 

Yet in spite of this economic development, broadening 
in its very nature, public opinion became narrowed down 
and surely crystallized first against " free soil " and " aboli- 
tion " ideas ; ^ and finally against " the North " without dis- 
tinction. When public opinion thus crystallizes, either a 
very dangerous or a very safe condition has been reached 
by the body politic. 

The national political crisis of 1850 which came so near 
bringing on a civil war was responded to in Florida. 
" Southern Rights Associations " were formed throughout 
the state. The Fourth of July picnics and barbecues of 
1 85 1 were occasions for extremely anti-national demonstra- 
tions.^ At Madison, for example, after a great crowd of 
planters and poor whites had listened to prayers, the Bible, 
and the Declaration of Independence, toasts were offered 
as follows: "A seceder in '32, the same in '51 "; "May 
peace be our motto till war is inevitable ".* 

As a factor in practical politics the " Southern Rights " 
movement in Florida strengthened the Democratic party 
there. In the Nashville Convention of 1850 the state was 
represented by United States Senator Mallory. He was 
not enthusiastic and expressed the opinion that the conven- 
tion was of no importance beyond possibly organizing the 

^ This reliance on New York is suggested by newspapers and 
pamphlets, such, for instaxice, as Internal Improvement Bonds of Fla. 
(1858), a pamphlet printed in New York (Libr. Fla. Hist. Soc.) ; Fla. 
R. R. First Mort. Bonds, etc. (Libr. Fla. Hist. Soc). 

* See burl hen of Democratic accusation against the Whigs, Floridian 
and Journal, Jan. 5, 1855. 

' Floridian and Journal, March 25, Apr. 19, 1851. 

^Floridian and Sentinel, July 19, 1851. 



36 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

South to stand united against hostile opinion in the North. 
" In ten years," he said, " no Northern statesman would be 
bold enough to break a lance in the Southern Cause." ^ The 
future proved the fallacy of his prophecy. 

The Whigs lost the election of 1852 by only 22 votes out 
of 9,000 cast. In the election of 1854 the Democrats won 
by 1,000 votes out of 10,000 cast.^ Following the defeat 
of the Whigs in 1852 the American party appeared. It 
was the incomplete successor of the Whig party and was 
popularly termed by its opponents '* Know Nothing ". A 
" Know Nothing " state convention met in Tallahassee dur- 
ing December, 1855.^ Seventeen counties were represented 
by delegates who found real difficulty in being themselves 
without encroaching upon Democratic ground. A delega- 
tion was duly chosen for the national convention and dis- 
tinctly pro-slavery resolutions were adopted. 

The Democrats were singularly aggressive in the con- 
gressional elections of 1854 and the general election of 
1856. The issues were national issues — the Kansas ques- 
tion, the policy of Mr. Douglas, the Fugitive Slave law, 
national expansion.^ Slavery underlay in some fashion 
every question of public moment taken up for discussion. 
The Democrats carried both elections,^ and followed it by 
winning the congressional election of 1858 with an in- 
creased majority.® The " Know Nothing " strength was 

^ Floridian and Journal, Feb. 8, 1851. 

" Florida Sentinel, Oct. 10, 24, Nov. 7, 1854. 

' Floridian and Sentinel, Dec. 11, 1855. 

* Floridian and Journal, Jan. 5, Feb. 22, Mch. 8, 18, Apr. 12, 26, May 3, 
June 17, July 12, 19, Aug. 23, 26, 30, Sept. 13, 1856. 

^Florida Sentinel, Nov. 7, 1854; Floridian and Journal, Oct. 11, 1856. 

^Florida Nexvs, Feb. 17, May 26, June 9, Aug. 14, 1858; March 17, 
1859; Floridian and Journal, Feb. 13, July 31, Aug. 14, 28, Sept. 18, 
1858; East Floridian, July 14, 1859; Floridian, Nov. 26, 1859. 



LAST YEARS OF THE ANTE-BELLUM REGIME 37 

being absorbed by the more positive Southern Democracy. 
The state was steadily drifting completely into the Demo- 
cratic column, and Southern leaders of the Democratic 
party were becoming with each election more pronounced 
and clear in their demands. 

Governor Perry's message of 1858 recommended the re- 
organization of the state's militia. "The late elections in the 
non-slave-holding states," he wrote, '* bode no good for 
us in the South." ^ The nation was inevitably moving 
toward the parting of the ways. Many thoughtful persons 
must have realized it by this time. The idea of possible 
secession had become old. The attempt of John Brown 
to bring about a slave insurrection in Virginia (1859) 
found an inflamed public opinion in Florida.^ The lead- 
ing papers published long accounts with heavy headlines of 
this narrowly-averted servile rising. An alarum of unfor- 
tunate depth was sounded. The more susceptible among 
the whites expressed fear that abolition fanaticism would 
cause the blacks to repeat the horrors of Santo Domingo. 
Governor Perry, in his message of December, 1859. declared 
that the anti-slavery sentiment in the North made that sec- 
tion aggressively hostile toward the South ; that the people 
of the North had annulled the written contract by their re- 
fusal to render up fugitive slaves ; that the " John Brown 
villainy " was part of the Republican party's policy ; that 
he was in favor of " eternal separation from the Union." 
He expressed his fear of a slave rising.^ 

The appearance of the incendiary Impending Crisis by 
Hinton Rowan Helper fed the dangerous flame of ill-will. 

' Floridian and Journal, Nov. 20, 1858, Governor's Message. 

* Florida newspapers, 1859-60, passim; also The New Reign of 
Terror, etc., anti-slavery tract (p. 132). 

* East Floridian, Dec. 15, 1859. 



-^8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

In Florida notices of it appeared prominently in various 
papers and extracts from the most violent passages were 
printed on the front page of the influential Fernandina 
East Floridian} 

The year i860 in Florida was one of unrest, suppressed 
feeling and vague military preparation. Volunteer mili- 
tary companies were organized in Fernandina and Talla- 
hassee because of the " critical state of national affairs ".^ 
One journal published an article on the cost of raising and 
equipping a brigade for active service.^ " Vigilant com- 
mittees " were formed in the various towns to suppress 
slave risings and to send out of the state those persons sus- 
pected of being abolitionists.* 

Democrats were prominent in this agitation. Local lead- 
ers were vigorously at work throughout Florida during the 
spring and summer of i860. The state administration was 
Democratic and the governor used the influence of his posi- 
tion to arouse the state. The legislature, which was Demo- 
cratic, was responsive to the radical influence of the Demo- 
cratic governor, and he responsive to the legislature. From 
one end of the state to the other, county and local Demo- 
cratic leaders engineered ably the campaign of 1860.^ 
Their cry was : "Oppose the North, which seeks the control 
of the national government to exclude slavery from the ter- 
ritories and destroy it in the South." The facts in the case 
made their position a strong one. 

They were opposed by the Constitutional Union party — 
composed of conservative Democrats and Old-Line Whigs. 

1 East Floridian, Dec. 22, 1859. 

^ Floridian, Dec. 31, 1859. E. Floridian (Fernandina), Jan. 5, i860. 

* E. Floridian, Jan. 19, i860. 

* Ihid., Oct. 4, 18, Nov. 7, i860. 

* Floridian, Apr. 7, 14, i860, etc. 



LAST YEARS OF THE ANTE-BELLUM R£GIME 



39 



Its personnel included a large number of the Scotch Pres- 
byterians of West Florida and many of the most aristo- 
cratic and wealthy planters of the cotton counties west of 
the Suwanee river. The Constitutional Union convention 
met in Quincy early in April/ The party resolutions 
adopted there acknowledged the " wrongs inflicted on the 
South ", but advanced a pacific, rational, and judicial 
method for righting these wrongs — differing thereby with 
the Democratic policy. The policy of the Constitutional 
Union party was, in fact, that of a calm and wise lawyer 
seeking a compromise. But, unfortunately, the country 
was in no mood for restrained behavior. Men believed that 
they saw clearly where the interests of the South clashed 
with the intentions of the North. Compromise would en- 
tail sacrifice — and the South, driven to the wall, had noth- 
ing to sacrifice except that which involved absolutely its im- 
mediate prosperity. 

A Democratic state convention met in Tallahassee on 
April 9th.^ Its resolutions endorsed the action of a recent 
Democratic state caucus at Washington ; reviewed the his- 
torical foundation of state rights; declared negro slavery 
to be a necessary domestic institution ; declared it to be the 
duty of Congress to protect slavery in the territories; and 
insisted upon the strict enforcement of the Fugitive Slave 
law. 

Florida was well represented at the national Democratic 
convention in Charleston, S. C, where the fatal sectional 
division within the Democratic party was exposed." Its 

1 Floridian, Apr. 14, i860. 

^ Ibid., Apr. 14; E. Floridian, Apr. 19, i860. 

The Florida delegation included John Milton of Jackson County; 
Chas. E. Dyke of Leon County, editor of the Tallahassee Floridian; 
J. B. Owens of Marion County. John Milton was shortly after elected 
governor of Florida. Floridian, Apr. 14, i860. 



40 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



delegation, as a body, seceded from the convention with the 
other cotton state delegations when the convention, con- 
trolled by the Northern Democracy, failed to endorse the 
extreme and uncompromising Southern view. The Florida 
protest, signed by the state's delegates and laid before the 
convention, was as follows : 

The undersigned Democratic delegates from the State of 
Florida enter this their solemn protest against the action of the 
Convention in voting down the platform of the majority. 
Florida with her Southern sisters is entitled to a clear and un- 
ambiguous recognition of her rights in the territories, and this 
being refused by the rejection of the Majority Report, we pro- 
test against receiving the Cincinnati Platform with the inter- 
pretation that it favors the Doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty 
in the territories, which doctrine, in the name of the people we 
represent we repudiate.^ 

The delegates from Florida — T. J. Eppes, B. F. Ward- 
low, John Milton, J. B. Owens, and C. E. Dyke — soon re- 
turned to their state. The news of what had happened at 
Charleston preceded them. The Democratic party had split 
in twain over the slavery issue. The news was of tre- 
mendous import to the people of Florida. Mass meetings 
were called together in practically all important towns and 
villages, and along with impassioned talk resolutions were 
adopted which endorsed the action of the Florida delegates 
in withdrawing.* John Milton, a prominent planter of 
Jackson county, on his return from the convention spoke to 
crowds of people in Fernandina and Tallahassee concern- 
ing what had transpired at Charleston. He emphatically 
stated that the failure to agree was not due to petty wrang- 
ling between Northern and Southern politicians. The 

^ Floridian, May 5, i860. 

' E. Floridian, May 12, 24, 31, June 14, i860. 



LAST YEARS OF THE ANTE-BELLUM R&GIME 41 

cause, he said, lay in the profound difference in public opin- 
ion North and South/ 

All Florida Democrats were not in sympathy with either 
the act of withdrawal at Charleston or the attempt which 
followed to form a Southern Democratic party. United 
States Senator Yulee wrote from Washington to C. E. 
Dyke, editor of the Floridian, strongly protesting against 
the sending of a delegation to the Southern Democratic 
convention called to meet in Richmond, Va. He stated that 
the formation of a Southern party would weaken the South- 
ern cause." His views coincided with those of a conserva- 
tive minority in Florida. 

But the Democratic state convention which met in 
Quincy, June 4th, took the radical Southern position. Del- 
egates were here chosen for the Richmond convention and 
John Milton of Jackson county. West Florida, was nomi- 
nated for governor on the twenty-third ballot, after a 
fierce contest.^ 

The Constitutional Unionists were active. They chose 
a full delegation for the National convention to meet in 
Baltimore; nominated Colonel Edward Hopkins, a well- 
to-do planter, for governor; and prepared generally to con- 
test the elections vigorously.* They charged the Demo- 
cratic party with deliberately planning disunion. The 
Democrats did not seek to deny the charge. 

At a Democratic meeting in Jacksonville on May 15th, 
it was resolved that 

regardless who may be the nominee of the several presidential 

^ E. Floridian, May 3, 10, 12, i860. J. J. Williams and T. J. Eppes 
also spoke in Femandina on the convention. 
' E. Floridian, June 14, i860. 
^ Floridian, June 16, 21, i860. 
* Ibid., June 23, 30, i860. 



42 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



conventions or who may be elected President, if it appear 
from such election that a majority of the people or the states 
of this Union deny to the South the amplest protection and 
security to slave property in the territories owned by the Gen- 
eral Government, or if it indicate approbation of the continued 
refusal of the free states to surrender fugitive slaves when 
legally demanded . . . then we are of the opinion that the 
rights of the citizens of Florida are no longer safe in the 
Union and we think that she should raise the banner of seces- 
sion and invite her Southern sisters to join her. 

At a Democratic meeting in Gainesville, on May 21st, it was 
resolved that " if in consequence of Northern fanaticism 
the irrepressible conflict must come we are prepared to 
meet it ". Another meeting resolved that " we would sac- 
rifice our lives before we would yield to the Black Repub- 
lican Party "/ 

The campaign was fought out stubbornly and sharply, 
but the passing weeks showed the weak points in the posi- 
tion of the Constitutional Union party.^ Its rational con- 
servatism was not popular in this crisis. What program 
had it to offer in case the Republicans won? The state 
seemed strongly Democratic. Of the twenty-two news- 
papers in Florida seventeen were Democratic, which num- 
ber included the most influential journals.^ 

The methods of radical Southern politicians were often 
dictatorial and bulldozing — causing here and there lawless 
outbreaks when regulators attempted to coerce opponents. 
Following the John Brow^n incident at Harper's Ferry and 
the organization in the North of the " Wide x\ wakes " and 

* E. Floridian, Aug. 23, i860. 

' E. Floridian. July 9, 26, Aug. 23, Sept. 6, i860 ; Floridian, Aug. 13, 
25, Sept. 8, i860, passim. 

* The U. S. Census of i860 gave Florida only 20 papers, 17 of which 
were weeklies, one bi-weekly, and two tri-weekly. 



LAST YEARS OF, THE ANTE-BELLUM R&GIME 43 

similar organizations, " vigilant committees " and com- 
panies of " Minute Men " were formed in several counties 
in Florida. The idea came probably from South Carolina. 
The professed object of these extra-legal bands was to keep 
an eye on the slaves and those suspected of being Aboli- 
tionists. Some did more than this. They attempted to 
drive out of the country those persons suspected of being 
not in sympathy with the extreme Southern position. 

In July (i860), for instance, a Dr. Wm. HoUingworth 
was attacked at night in his home in Bradford county by 
regulators because of his anti-Southern views. The as- 
sailants fired on him through windows and doors. He and 
his son fought back until the elder man was badly wounded. 
The end of the tragedy is not recorded. In East Florida 
bands of whippers and thugs operated through the country 
at this time. They were reported to have secret signs of 
recognition and pass-words and to be " bound together by 
horrid oaths and penalties ". Men were dragged from their 
beds at night, stripped, blind-folded, taken into the woods 
and whipped. In East Florida near Santa Fe a local vigi- 
lant committee found one James Douglas guilty of tamper- 
ing with the slaves. They shaved his head and sent him 
out of the state. In Escambia County, West Florida, a man 
who was rather loud in his condemnation of the Southern 
viewpoint was taken from his house into the back yard and 
there, in the presence of a sick wife, brutally whipped. She 
died from the ordeal of witnessing the beating and he be- 
came a bitter Unionist during the war. 

In Calhoun County (West Florida) a party of men call- 
ing themselves " regulators " visited the house of one Jesse 
Durden, late in October, i860. They murdered Durden 
and then, proceeding down the county road, overtook two 
of the dead man's friends whom they likewise killed. The 
friends and relatives of the three dead rose to avenge the 



44 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



killings. The conflict soon reached such proportions in 
Calhoun County that Judge J. J. Finley of the state circuit 
court declared the county to be in a condition of " insur- 
rectionary war," and Adj. -Gen. Anderson promptly or- 
dered there a brigade of state militia. At the same time 
the Federal judge for the northern district of Florida, Mc- 
Queen Mcintosh — later a radical in the secession conven- 
tion — directed his United States deputy marshal, H. K. 
Simmons, to summon a posse and execute such processes 
in Calhoun County as he should order. A company of mil- 
itia from Jackson County marched into the affected district, 
the so-called insurrection was suppressed, and twenty-seven 
arrests made — besides the binding under peace bonds of 
some thirty individuals.^ 

The real character of these lawless conflicts immediatel)r 
preceding the war has never been historically established. 
Did the Democrats in these localities resort to such means 
in order to crush the obstruction of minorities? or were the 
Democratic majorities made and held by systematic terror- 
ism and coercion ? or was there no connection at all between 
Democratic politics and violence? Certainly in those sec- 
tions of the state where most trouble existed in i860 were 
found during the War most deserters and " Union Men " 
or anti-Confederates — as, for instance, in Calhoun and Es- 
cambia Counties. The two judges who were most promi- 
nent in suppressing the Calhoun County trouble were soon 
after leading figures in taking the state from the Union. 

Bad feeling was painfully evident in the fall of i860 and 
wild expressions were running loose, such, for instance, as 
the following: 

These associations [vigilant committees] should be composed 
of firm, respectable, and prudent men. The election of Lin- 

' E. Floridian, Oct. 18, 31, i860. 



LAST YEARS OF THE ANTE-BELLUM R&GIME 45 

coin now so imminent will doubtless embolden many of his 
followers to visit the South for the purpose of spreading his 
damn doctrine. Let Florida be prepared to give all such a 
meet and proper reception. If any individual is convicted of 
tampering with our slaves let him die the death of a felon. If 
they furnish necks, hemp is cheap and oak limbs handy. 

Before the autumn elections the press began to discuss 
the method of seceding in case the Republican party elected 
the President.^ The people of Florida did not believe that 
secession would be a peaceful, constitutional process. The 
dreadful note of preparation for war was in the air. "From 
every portion of the South exchanges bring accounts of 
formation, arming, and drilling of military corps." In 
Florida, following the advice of Governor Perry, the legis- 
lature, by statute, provided for the reorganization of the 
state militia. Elections were held during the spring of 
i860 putting into operation the law.^ Companies of " Min- 
ute Men " were forming in hamlet after hamlet and coal- 
escing into larger military bodies. The magazine was pre- 
pared for the explosion when the spark should be dropped. 
The people awaited with suppressed agitation the result of 
the national election. 

The Democratic party was desperately active. Vitupera- 
tion and invective were poured out upon the heads of Lin- 
coln and his followers. The Democratic speakers and edi- 
tors with force and reason appealed to men's passions in 
their discussion of Southern rights. Their positive pro- 
gram of no compromise with Republicanism won votes. 
Yet the Constitutional Unionists fought hard and skil- 
fully and with the prestige of aristocratic leadership. 

The Breckinridge and Lane (Southern Democratic) 

* Floridian, Nov. 3, i860. 

* E. Floridian, May 24, i860; Floridian, July 14, i860. 



46 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

ticket carried the state, on the 7th of November, by a sub- 
stantial majority. The votes cast were as foUov^s : 

Breckinridge and Lane 8,543 

Bell and Everett (Constitutional Unionist) 5,437 

Douglas and Johnson (Northern Democratic) 367 

Lincoln and Hamlin (Republican) o 

14,347 
Breckinridge and Lane majority 1,369 ^ 

" Are you ready? " asked the Floridian of its readers on 
the day that the fatal votes were cast. They were. A few 
days later that journal struck well the common sentiment in 
Florida when it declared : " Lincoln is elected. There is a 
beginning of the end. Sectionalism has triumphed. What 
is to be done? We say resist." ^ 

' Stanwood, E., History of the Presidency, p. 297; Greeley, American- 
ConHict, V. i ; Greeley's and Stanwood's figures do not exactly agree. 
" Floridian, Nov. 10, i860. 



CHAPTER III 
Secession 

From another quarter of the state came the expression 
of similar opinion. " Secession of the state of Florida. 
Dissolution of the Union. Formation of a Southern Con- 
federacy," ran the headlines of a leading newspaper. The 
account continued: 

The time has come — Lincoln is elected — The curtain has risen 
and the fir^t act of the dark drama of Black Republicanism has 
been represented — The issue has been boldly made — Throw 
doubt and indecision to the winds — the requisite steps should 
be taken at once for the arming and equipment of every able- 
bodied man — The irrepressible conflict has commenced — We 
must meet it manfully and bravely — Florida will secede.^ 

In many towns of the state mass meetings protested 
against the election of Lincoln.^ They were Demo- 
cratic meetings, but as the Southern Democratic party 
was in power and borne up by a rising wave of popu- 
larity, their proceedings probably reflect with fair accur- 
acy the temper of more than the party majority. Florida 
became perceptibly more radical after the election. In 
Gainesville, Alachua County, a meeting called upon the 
legislature by resolution to order a convention of " the peo- 
ple ". Secession, it thought, was the proper course for the 
state. It advised that all citizens arm and that the state be 

i£. Floridian, Nov. 14. i860. 

^ Floridian, Nov. 24, i860; E. Floridian, Nov. 28, i860. 

47 



48 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



put immediately in a condition for defense.^ Radical Gov- 
ernor Perry was from Alachua County. 

Late in November the governor submitted his message 
to the legislature. He was a vigorous and direct man as 
well as an active politician. His position in this crisis was 
never in doubt. His message on the situation was as clear 
and strong as it was narrow and bitter. " The crisis ex- 
pected by men of observation and reflection has at last 
come," he said : 

The only hope that the Southern states have for domestic 
peace or for future respect or prosperity is dependent on their 
action now, and that action is, secession from faithless, per- 
jured confederates. But some Southern men object to seces- 
sion until some overt act of unconstitutional power shall have 
been committed. If we wait for such an overt act our fate 
will be that of the whites in Santo Domingo. I recommend 
that a convention of the people be called at an early date to 
take such action as necessary. I further recommend that the 
militia laws be revised and that $100,000 be appropriated as a 
military fund for the ensuing year, to be expended as the 
public necessity may require. - 

These very pronounced views met with wide endorsement. 
One political enemy of the governor stated that the senti- 
ments expressed would " coincide with the views of a vast 
majority of the citizens of Florida." ^ 

The legislature acted promptly. In the senate were now 
thirteen Democrats and eight termed " Opposition " ; in the 
house, thirty-seven Democrats and ten " Opposition ".* 
The opposition was affected by the radical spirit of the ma- 
jority. When on November 28th, a bill was presented in 

' E. Floridian, Nov. 28, i860. 

- Gov.'s Mess., Floridian, Dec. i, i860. 

^ E. Floridian,- I>ec. 5, i860. 

* Ibid., Nov. 17, i860. 



SECESSION 49 

the legislature for the calling of a convention to consider 
the question of Florida's position in the Union, it passed 
both houses with but one dissenting vote. On November 
30th the bill became a law. It provided for a special elec- 
tion on December 22nd of delegates to a " convention of 
the people ". This convention, according to the statute, 
was to assemble in Tallahassee on January 3rd. Its pros- 
pective business was to take the state out of the Union. ^ 
On the day that the convention bill became a law, Novem- 
ber 30th, Governor Perry issued a proclamation setting 
forth the conditions of the coming election. Judges of pro- 
bate were directed to appoint inspectors and to make all 
other necessary arrangements. The object of the conven- 
tion was declared to be to " consider the dangers incident 
to the position of the state in the Federal Union and to 
amend the constitution in any way necessary." ^ 

Florida was rapidly and surely making toward seces- 
sion. Some men tried desperately at this late date to 
change the course of public opinion. Their efforts proved 
pathetically futile. The 5.804 Constitutional Unionists 
and Douglas Democrats were now a negligible force in 
controlling the destinies of the state. Ex-Governor Rich- 
ard Call of Tallahassee, who had come into Florida with 
Andrew Jackson, who had stood by his chief in the Nulli- 
fication controversy with South Carolina, and who clung 
to earlier ideals of positive nationalism, strove to assemble 
the people, " here and there. But faction leaders would 
not let the people hear him. Counter-meetings and closed 
doors excluded him. Pleadingly he argued and wrote and 
published, and in the name of God and his country he de- 
clared the contemplated act treason. Few would listen and 
some noisy, brainless fellows called him a submissionist." ^ 

' Floridiaii, Dec. 5, i860. ' Procl., E. Floridian, Dec. 5, i860. 

' Long, F!a. Breezes, p. 283. 



50 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



On December ist, he issued a pamphlet containing his ap- 
peal. " My fellow citizens," he wrote, 

on Monday last your legislature met. Secession was the 
watchword, and reply, and on Thursday before the hour of 12 
was consummated an act amid rapt applause which may pro- 
duce the most fatal consequences. This act provides for a 
convention of the people to be chosen with the same rushing 
haste to assemble in your capital on January 3rd, next. And 
for what purpose? Secession of the State of Florida from the 
Union. I proclaim that when that deed shall be done it will 
be treason, high treason against our constitutional govern- 
ment. Is the election of a sectional president by a sectional 
party consisting of less than one-third of the political strengtli 
of the Nation sufficient cause for justifying rebellion and revo- 
lution against your government ? Is it not a fact that the pres- 
ent disunion movement in Florida is not because of the elec- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln but from a long-cherished hatred of the 
Union by the leading politicians of the State? Wait then, I 
pray you, wait ! ^ 

But the legislature and the governor did not wait. Within 
two weeks $100,000 were appropriated for military pur- 
poses and Governor Perry had left the state ostensibly for 
the purchase of irms and ammunition.' The legislature and 
governor evidently believed that they were acting in har- 
mony with the will of the " people at home ". The fact is, 
Southern slavery was threatened as never before. The 
Southern planter opposed the destruction of a system on 
which his worldly prosperity depended. And the poor 
white, with no slaves to lose or rich lands to decrease in 
value if the social system should be so radically changed, 
was opposed to the idea of the free negro. To the slave, 
the poor white was merely " low-down white trash ". The 

^ Pamphlet containing appeal of Call, Libr. P. K. Yonge, Pensacola. 
* E. Floridian, Dec. 12, i860. 



SECESSION 51 

" white trash " reciprocated by having no particular liking 
for " a damn nigger ". Tlie possibility of a proletariat of 
blacks and whites was distasteful to those poverty-stricken 
Caucasians who foresaw, by instinct if not by intelligence, 
what might come to pass. 

All intelligent men of the South, regardless of riches or 
enlightenment, knew that the party which won the national 
elections of i860 received its support in the North and was 
hostile to slavery. Most men of conservative opinion be- 
lieved that the activity of the Republican party in the im- 
mediate future would be directed only toward making the 
territories free soil, restricting the spread of slavery. Men 
of this opinion did not counsel secession because conditions, 
they thought, warranted no such radical, dangerous move. 

The majority of those persons in Florida who swayed 
and formulated public opinion during i860 seemed con- 
vinced in all sincerity that the victorious political party 
North meant, somehow, to cripple and ultimately to de- 
stroy slavery. In any legislative war on slavery other in- 
terests of the South would suffer. A hostile national ad- 
ministration, a hostile national legislature, and a hostile 
public opinion in the North sustaining such a government — 
these were the conditions which the Southerner believed 
that he observed in 1860-1861.^ 

" When the political success of the Republican party cul- 
minated in the election of Mr. Lincoln," stated Senator 
Mallory, of Florida, at a later date, " the conviction of the 
Southern mind that it would pursue a course of unjust, un- 
equal and class legislation, toward the South, as well with 
regard to other vital interests as to those of slavery, and 

' See letters of S. R. Mallory and D. L. Yulee, Senators, for a dis- 
cussion of the Southern position. Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 8, pp. 637, 
662-70. Also, letters, proclamations and messages of Gov. Milton, Mil- 
ton Papers, MSS. 



52 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



that submission would equally disgrace, demoralize and 
impoverish her people, kindled and sustained the fires of 
revolution." ^ The leaders in the attempted revolution 
were slave-holders — trusted and respected and, in some 
cases, beloved by the millions of whites too poor to hold 
slaves. 

And there was another reason for opposing the North 
which did not proceed directly from fear of Congressional 
interference with slavery in the territories or from dis- 
satisfaction with the poor execution of the Fugitive Slave 
Law. The President of the United States presented in 
apt phrases this other Southern nightmare when he declared 
that in the slave-holding states 

a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. 
This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions 
of servile insurrection. Many a matron throughout the South 
retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and her 
children before the morning. Should this apprehension of 
domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and in- 
tensify itself, until it shall pervade the masses of the Southern 
people, then disunion will be inevitable. Self-preservation is 
the first law of nature and has been implanted in the heart of 
man, by his Creator, for the wisest purposes, and no political 
Union, however fraught with blessings and benefits in all 
other respects, can long continue if the necessary consequence 
be to render the homes and the firesides of nearly half the 
parties to it habitually and hopelessly insecure.- 

Of the 78,000 whites in Florida at the time about 25,000 
(men, women and children) constituted the slave-holding 
class, namely, families whose members actually owned one 
or more negroes. The census denominated 1,175 whites in 
Florida " planters ". There were then within the state 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. ii, v. 8, pp. 662-3. 

' Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, pp. 7-8, Mess. Dec. 3, i860. 



SECESSION 53 

1,123 fa-rms of 100 acres or more, and 1,157 slave-holders 
who owned 15 or more slaves. These figures suggest a 
certain correlation of farms, slave-holders, and " planters". 
250 of the slave-holders owned 50 or more slaves and 288 
farms or " plantations " consisted of 500 or more acres 
each. Forty-seven planters owned from 100 to 300 slaves 
and yy plantations exceeded 1,000 acres in extent. 3,995 
slaveholders, of a total of 5,152, owned less than 15 negroes 
each. 4,676 farms contained less than 100 acres each. The 
segregation of slaves, slave-holders, and estimated wealth 
is worthy of some notice. In the seven great planting coun- 
ties of Alachua, Marion, Madison, Jefferson, Leon, Gads- 
den and Jackson the valuation of property — real and per- 
sonal — was $48,000,000. The total valuation of all prop- 
erty in the state was but $73,101,500. In these seven plant- 
ing counties were about 40,000 of the 61,000 slave popula- 
tion and about 26,000 of the 78,000 whites.^ These coun- 
ties contained the majority of Florida's wealthier and more 
enlightened citizens, hence a majority of those who led in 
the crisis of 1861. 

The last two months of the year i860 witnessed an 
ominous development in public opinion. The organization 
of those volunteer companies called " Minute Men " con- 
tinued. On November 19th such a company tendered its 
services to the governor. Governor Perry accepted it "as 
the first company in defense of the State." " In Pensacola, 
a company of " Minute Men " reported among its members 
United States Senator Mallory and Colonel William Chase, 
a retired army officer, both active in furthering secession. 

The inhabitants of the towns were agitated and excited. 
In Pensacola, for instance, frequent meetings were held by 
the town council to discuss the situation. Radical speeches 

' Census, i860. ' E. Floridian, Dec. 12, i860. 



54 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



were made before mass meetings on the street. " Men, 
women and children seem to have gone mad," stated a naval 
officer, stationed in Pensacola harbor at this time. "Every- 
body was talking secession — officers at the mess table and 
at home, where the women always take a strong hand ; and 
the workmen during their mid-day meal." ^ United States 
sailors and marines, ashore from the Federal warships 
lying in the harbor, were drawn into street fights by the 
more violent advocates of state rights. To express in 
public pronounced Union sentiments meant probably a fight 
unless you quickly ate your words. The excitement grew 
day by day.^ 

" I traveled by way of Montgomery to Pensacola," wrote 
Captain Meigs, an army engineer. 

There I took the mail steamer and touching off Apalachicola, 
St. Marks, Cedar Keys, and Tampa, I reached Key West on 
the 7th [November] and this place on the next day. I found 
on some parts of the route a feeling of strong hostility to the 
Union. I heard from men reputed to be sober, careful, con- 
scientious citizens, expressions of regret for the danger of the 
Union, but of belief that its preservation for many years was 
impossible, and a feeling that if a struggle was to come, they 
would prefer it coming now.^ 

The Marianna Patriot of Jackson County expressed pro- 
nounced secession sentiments in November. Another 
Florida journal reported " Secession flags everywhere." 
In Marion County a meeting was held at the county court- 
house, where an assemblage of citizens voted for secession, 
while in the public square of the village floated a flag with 

* Erben, Persotial Recollections of the War of the Rebellion, p. 215. 

* See testimony of witnesses in the Armstrong investigation, H. Rpts., 
36th C, 2nd S., no. 87. 

^ Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 52, pt. i, p. 4. 



SECESSION 



55 



a single blue star and the inscription, " Let Us Alone." The 
Quincy Republican of Gadsden County reported a seces- 
sion flag flying in the town of Quincy with the inscription, 
" Secession, Florida, Sovereignty, Independence ". All of 
this was evident in November/ 

In some places Lincoln was burned in effigy.^ Colonel 
Chase of Pensacola, originally from Massachusetts, in an 
open letter advocated " immediate secession " by the com- 
ing convention of the people.^ United States Senator Yulee 
in Washington, on hearing that a convention of the people 
had been called, wrote to the legislature that " he would 
promptly and joyfully return home if Florida seceded." 
In St. Augustine the " secession flag " was raised and "blue 
cockades " were worn by many of the citizens.* In Fer- 
nandina two military companies were organized, equipping 
themselves and announcing that their uniforms were of 
" Southern manufacture ".^ At Mayport Mills, below Jack- 
sonville, several Northern fishermen were forced to leave 
the locality, because they had expressed opinions which con- 
flicted too much with the pro-slavery sentiments of the 
natives. "^ On December 12th, affected by the crisis, the 
Bank of St. Johns in St. Augustine suspended specie pay- 
ment "in compliance with the wishes of the people".^ " At 
Tallahassee," wrote Mrs. Long, " I find the atmosphere 
redolent with secession. Gallants wear the palmetto cock- 
ade. Matrons are ready to buckle the sword for their hus- 
bands, and I wonder if they will do it so readily for their 
sons. Everything is promised everybody — the merchant 

' E. Floridian, Dec. 5, i860. 
' Ibid., Dec. 5, 19, i860. 

• Letter in A''. Y. Times, Dec. 15, i860. 

* E. Floridian, Dec. 19, i860. » Ibid. 

« Ibid., Dec. 19, i860. ' Ibid., Dec. 12, i860. 



^6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

to be rid of paying his Northern debts ; the slave-trade, re- 
vived for the planters ; ^ the ambitious, a new and nearer 
field of promotion; and those who have nothing are to get 
something in the general scramble." ^ 

'' I believe the temper of the South is excited — danger- 
ous," Captain Meigs had written General Scott, from Key 
West, a few weeks before." Such incidents and expres- 
sions as the foregoing indicate a public consciousness out of 
which obviously a political revolution might come. The 
definite beginning of such a revolution was made by the 
convention which assembled on January 3rd in Tallahassee 
at the call of the legislature. On the day named sixty dele- 
gates presented their credentials. Among them were some 
of the best known, most respected and wealthiest men of 
the state.* Little record remains of the manner in which 
they were elected — whether fair or foul. Their good char- 
acters support the assumption that fairness preponderated. 
They composed a body which was to take unto itself sov- 
ereign powers, repudiate the Union, and change in theory at 
least, the very nature of the state represented. 

The temporary chairman, Mr. Pelot, in his opening ad- 
dress, declared that Northern fanaticism had endangered 
Southern liberties and institutions ; that the election of 
Abraham Lincoln, "a wily abolitionist", destroyed all hope 
for the future. " We must stand shoulder to shoulder in 
the great work before us." he concluded, " and may the 

^ It is worth while noticing the revival of interest in Florida at this 
time, in the reopening of the African slave trade. In Aug., i860, 2,020 
Africans captured from " Slavers " were in the hands of Federal 
authorities at Key West. See E. Floridian for June 7, 21, Aug. 9, i860. 

* Long, Florida Breezes, p. 282. 

3 Oif. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 52, pt. i, p. 4, written Nov. 10, i860. 

* See Comments ty A^. Y. Herald, Jan. 7, 1861 ; also Proceedings of 
Convert., pp. i, 2. 



SECESSION 57 

God of Mercy and Goodness direct us in our deliberations 
that we may arrive at the best means to accomplish the de- 
sired end." ^ 

Amid the suppressed hum of comment which followed 
the applause McQueen Mcintosh, the Federal judge who 
had recently figured in suppressing the " regulator " dis- 
turbances in West Florida, arose. 

" Mr. Chaimian," he said, " it is but seldom that men 
are called upon to discharge the grave and solemn duties 
about to devolve upon us. And with nations as with men, 
there is a Providence which fashions their destinies. I 
therefore move, Sir, that the Right Reverend Bishop Rut- 
ledge be invited to a seat by your side and that this con- 
vention be opened with prayer." Bishop Rutledge, whose 
ancestors had helped take South Carolina out of the British 
colonial system, prayed that " the Lord would enlighten, 
direct, and strengthen them " in deciding whether Florida 
should be taken out of the Federal system.- Thus with 
bitterness toward those whom they had considered their 
enemies in the North and a solemn appeal for the help of 
Almighty God in dealing with the situation, the members 
of the Florida secession convention began their work in 
true Puritanic spirit. 

All delegates elected had not arrived by January 3rd. 
Four western counties (Escambia, Santa Rjosa, Franklin 
and Liberty) and one eastern county (Clay) were not 
represented, as well as some of the senatorial districts. 
Representation was by county and senatorial district. The 
convention therefore adjourned for two days, until Satur- 
day, January 5th. On that day the body definitely organ- 
ized itself for its destructive and constructive constitutional 
work. John C. McGehee, a planter, was chosen president. 

^Proceedings of Conven., p. 3. ^ Ibid., p. 4. 



58 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



The president of the convention promptly system- 
atized the work of the body by appointing committees of 
five members each on judiciary, ordinance, Federal rela- 
tions, foreign relations, taxes and revenue, militia and in- 
ternal police, sea-coast defenses, public lands, etc. Each 
committee was to occupy itself with some phase of the con- 
templated constitutional change/ The appointment of these 
committees before the convention had acted on the question 
of Federal relations was an obvious index of what the body 
expected to do. If Florida was to remain in the Union, 
there was little reason for thus preparing to revise at that 
time her fundamental law. 

The convention had met to take Florida out of the Union. 
Two ways of accomplishing this were proposed on the sec- 
ond day of meeting. Mr. Parkhill, a prominent planter of 
Leon County, submitted the first proposition. He would 
have the convention take immediate action on secession and 
then submit its decision to the votes of the people. He 
would have the people cast their votes for or against the 
convention's decision after Georgia and Alabama had taken 
action definitely on secession. His was the conservative 
plan, whose keynote was delay. It was promptly laid on 
the table and remained there. 

Judge McQueen Mcintosh of Franklin County, proposed 
the second plan. He would have secession proclaimed as a 
state right, Florida proclaimed justified in exercising that 
right, and the convention proclaimed competent to act for 
the state. This proclamation method was simpler, swifter, 
more direct, more radical, more popular, and more danger- 
ous than the other. Mcintosh's resolutions were ordered 
printed and further consideration was postponed until 
Monday.^ 

* Proceedings of Conven., p. 12. 
^Ihid., pp. 12-13. 



SECESSION 59 

On Monday, January 7th, the question of secession, the 
raison d'etre of the convention, was again taken up. "Flor- 
ida is very impatient to be the second State in the banner 
of the South," recorded a critic of the convention. 

The Convention which was called merely to ratify the fore- 
gone conclusions of the politicians of the State is now in ses- 
sion, and the town LTallahassee] is full of bewildered and ex- 
cited people. The timid are silent or are with the popular 
voice in the noise they make, and would change with them to- 
morrow for the same reason. The Convention is formed of 
the most ultra element who have not come to investigate, rea- 
son or determine, but with a fixed purpose to vote Florida out 
of the Union. . . . The halls of the capital are crowded day 
and night. Citizens— even ladies— attend the councils while 
the wildest excitement prevails.^ 

Ere the vote was taken in Florida on secession the dele- 
o-ates were addressed by commissioners from Alabama, 
South Carolina, and Virginia. These gentlemen— E. C. 
Bullock of Alabama, S. C. Spratt of South Carolina, and 
Edmund Ruffin of Virginia— had been introduced to the 
convention by Governor Perry,' who had recently returned 
from a trip into South Carolina and probably into Georgia. 
The words of the commissioners — advance agents of the 
Confederacy — constituted a part of the radical appeal from 
abroad. They came on the wings of revolution. They 
counselled radical action. They found in Tallahassee a 
radical body to counsel. Advice is attended with interest 
when we are like-minded with the counsellors and are 
dubious of the future. 

Mr. Spratt, of South Carolina, read the secession ordi- 

* Long, Florida Breezes, p. 303. 

2 Proceedings of Conven., p. 14. Spratt and Bullock did most of the 
talking. Virginia's position then was very uncertain. 



6o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

nance of his state. He then read the eloquent address of 
South Carolina on the " Relations of the Slave-holding- 
States ". He concluded with a speech on his own state's 
recent action/ South Carolina had left the Union on De- 
cember 20th. Commissioners of the Republic of Soutli 
Carolina to the United States had been appointed two days 
after her secession. Major Anderson had withdrawn to 
Fort Sumter the Federal troops under his command. South 
Carolina had prepared to resist with force if necessary the 
landing of supplies or reinforcements in Sumter. While 
Spratt spoke in Florida, the Federal steamer " Star of the 
West " was at sea bound for Fort Sumter with supplies, 
and South-Carolinians were preparing to open fire on her 
when she should come within range. ^ 

The South Carolina commissioner was discussing, there- 
fore, not vague generalities concerning what might come 
to pass. He spoke of changes and conditions which indi- 
cated abnormal times. The entire body politic was af- 
fected. The spirit of revolution was in fact already un- 
chained. 

The words of the commissioners vitalized the events of 
the hour to the advantage of radicalism, and thereby has- 
tened, maybe, the separation of Florida from the Union. 
The state would have seceded regardless of inter-state com- 
missioners. On the day that Spratt spoke, Senator Yulee 
wrote from Washington that he and his colleague, Mallor}', 
had unequivocally joined with other Southern Senators in 
declaring that " the Southern States should, as soon as may 
be, secede." ' On January 6th, Mr. Mallory informed the 

^ Proceedings of Conven., p. 15. 

* See accounts in Rhodes, U. S., v. iii, pp. 245-6 ; Chadwick, Causes 
of Civil War, pp. 225-6. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, pp. 442-3. The letter was addressed by 
Yulee to " Finegan or Call." 



SECESSION 6 1 

Florida convention by telegraph of this secret conclave by 
Southern senators in which he and Yulee had taken part/ 
Governor Perry of Florida had already appealed to the gov- 
ernor of Alabama for assistance in seizing Federal prop- 
erty ; ^ and Yulee in Washington had conspired with Robert 
Toombs of Georgia to the same end.^ Dissolution of politi- 
cal bonds had advanced perceptibly by January the 7th. 

The convention voted on that day, January 7th, that the 
" people of the State " possess the " right " to sever politi- 
cal connections when in their opinion just and proper cause 
exist; it concluded that " just and proper cause " did exist 
and that Florida should exercise the right.* In taking this 
step the convention committed itself to a view of the Union 
consistent with the contemplated separation. Both dele- 
gates from Walton County in West Florida voted against 
the resolution. The other three votes in opposition came 
from East Florida — all five votes coming from white or 
almost non-cotton-planting counties. 

Immediately after the passage of the resolution a " select 
committee " of thirteen was appointed by the chair to pre- 
pare an ordinance of secession. The committee was repre- 
sentative of the various sections of the state. Two days 
later, January 9th, it reported an ordinance.^ The conven- 
tion went into session as committee of the whole for a con- 
sideration of the report. The proposed measure was sub- 
mitted to the judiciary committee with instructions to re- 
port in an hour. The judiciary committee promptly brought 
in the revised ordinance.*' In the desperate efforts to amend 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. ii, v. 8, p. 833; s. i, v. i, p. 443. 
' Ibid., s. i, V. i, p. 444. This seems a reasonable assumption from 
the letter of Gov. Moore to the Alabama Convention, Jan. 8. 

• Ibid., s. i, V. i., p. 442. Letter of Yulee, Jan. 5. 

* Proceedings of Conven., p. 18. 

» Ihid., p. 25. « Ibid., p. 28. 



62 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

it the conservative element in the convention showed its 
strength and poHcy/ Delay by Florida until more powerful 
states had acted underlay the various projects to amend. 

Mr. Ward, of Leon County, would have the proposed or- 
dinance of secession not take effect till the convention had 
been advised of the actions of Georgia and Alabama on 
Federal relations. This was lost by a vote of 30 to 39. Mr. 
Allison, of Gadsden, would have the ordinance not take 
effect till the governor was informed that Georgia and Ala- 
bama had gone out of the Union ; and in case these states 
did not go out, he would have the question of secession 
submitted to the votes of the people. Lost by a vote of 27 
to 32. Mr. Ward then proposed that the ordinance be sub- 
mitted to the votes of the people. Lost by a vote of 26 to 
41. Mr. Morton, of Santa Rosa County, proposed that the 
convention postpone action till Alabama had signified defi- 
nitely her intention of quitting the Union. Lost by a vote 
of 28 to 40. Mr. Ward then proposed that further action 
on the question of secession be postponed till January i8th. 
Lost by a vote of 28 to 40. 

This ended opposition to the passage of an unqualified 
and immediate ordinance of secession. The votes for de- 
lay had been cast mainly by representatives of the white 
counties — particularly the western counties which had been 
strongly Whig. Escambia, Walton and Jackson Counties, 
for instance, supported solidly a qualified ordinance. But 
opposition was not confined to a section. Gadsden and 
Wakulla Counties voted for delay. Four out of five dele- 
gates from Leon County did likewise, as well as several 
members from East and Southern Florida; while in West 
Florida, Washington, Holmes, and Franklin Counties, 
abutting Escambia, Walton and Jackson, and containing 

^ Proceedings of Conven., pp. 28-31. 



SECESSION 63 

almost the same kind of population, went solidly for im- 
mediate secession. 

The vote therefore in the secession convention failed to 
disclose sectionalism within the state or division between 
planter and poorer white. It merely divided radical Demo- 
crat from conservative Democrat and Constitutional Union- 
ist. It tended to show that Florida East of the Suwanee 
river was more radical than Florida west of that stream. 
Seventy of the seventy-seven " thousand-acre or more " 
plantations were zvest of the river, as well as 165 of the 21 1 
planters operating 500 to 1,000 acres. ^ The larger prop- 
erty-holders were conservative when on their actions hung 
the probability of contest with the Federal government. 

With every member present and the visitors' galleries 
of the senate chamber crowded, the convention proceeded 
to business on Thursday, January loth. Excitement was 
high. The " Star of the West " had drawn fire in Charles- 
ton harbor at dawn the day before, and this morning Gov- 
ernor Perry electrified the assembly with a telegram from 
Florida's representatives in Washington. " Federal troops 
are said to be moving or about to move on Pensacola 
forts," it read. " Every hour is important." ^ 

For two hours committees submitted reports on constitu- 
tional revision, and desultory debate went on. Most of the 
discussion was by those who sought to delay the secession 
of the state. They obtained a respectful and unenthusiastic 
hearing. At last, almost at mid-day, the question of the 
hour was laid before the convention. The secretary ner- 
vously raised his papers from the table and the people bent 

Ce'rtsus, i860. 
' Off. Reds. RehelL, s. i, v. i, p. 444. Message of Gov. Perry to Mr. 
McGehee, president of convention Jan. 10. The message had been sent 
the day before from Washington and was signed by Mallory, Yulee and 
Hawkins (congressmen). 



54 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

forward in silent and strained attention as the proposed se- 
cession ordinance was read. 
It ran as follows : 

We, the people of the State of Florida in convention assem- 
bled, do solemnly ordain, publish, and declare that the State of 
Florida hereby withdraws herself from the Confederacy of 
States existing under the name of the United States of 
America, and from the existing government of the said States ; 
and that all political connection between her and the govern- 
ment of said states ought to be and the same is hereby totally 
annulled, and the said Union of States dissolved, and the 
State of Florida hereby declared a sovereign and independent 
nation ; and that all ordinances heretofore adopted, in so far 
as they create or recognize the said Union, are rescinded, and 
all laws and parts of laws in force in this State, in so far as 
they recognize or consent to said Union, be and they are 
hereby repealed.^ 

The vote was taken and stood 62 to 7 for secession. 
Four of the seven votes in opposition came from West 
Florida.^ Both Walton County delegates voted with the 
minority. At twenty-two minutes past twelve o'clock 
P. M., January loth, the president declared the ordinance 
adopted.^ Applause broke forth and the shouting was 
taken up by those outside the hall. The die had been cast. 
" As the vote was taken," declared Mrs. Long, " the ap- 
plause was deafening. Men whooped and women clapped 
their hands. Madame M gave way to tears. 



" 4 



^ Proceedings of Conven., p. 31. 

' Ibid., p. 31. Those who voted against it were Baker of Jackson 
Co., McCaskill and Morrison of Walton Co., Rutland of 19th Sena- 
torial District, Gregory of Liberty Co., Hendricks of Clay Co., and 
Woodrufif of Orange Co. 

' Proceedings of Conven., p. 31. 
* Long, Florida Breezes, p. 306. 



SECESSION ' 65 

Three delegates were appointed to represent Florida in 
the proposed convention of representatives from those 
Southern states which would withdraw from the Union/ 
Senator Yulee, in a recent communication to a member of 
the Florida convention, had urged the immediate import- 
ance of a Southern confederacy." The great ordinance 
passed, the assembly chamber was cleared of its occupants 
and the doors closed for the day. 

Groups formed before hotels, bars and the hospitable 
general stores to discuss the momentous political develop- 
ments of the hour. The few bar-rooms did a flowing holi- 
day business — for optimism was running high and the 
weather was cool. When night came, the many lights 
which flashed in public buildings and along the usually quiet 
streets indicated the continuation of celebration. More 
than 500 lights shone in the " Capital Hotel ". Soon scores 
of rockets and roman candles blazed and ricocheted above 
the shadows of the live-oaks. Some said Florida was al- 
ready " a nation ". Certainly there was evidence of the 
political self-assurance necessary to separate national life. 
The state's rural citizenry swung out in the flood tide of 
a new national existence with no cities, no factory system, 
few railroads, sparse population, and less than 1,000 skilled 
laborers within the length and breadth of the land.^ 

The New York Times declared that the secession of 
Florida meant the wiping-out of old debts, that the South 

^ Proceedings of Conven.; R^rick, Memoirs of Fla., v. i, p. 236. The 
commissioners were Gen. Morton, Col. Patton Anderson and Col. Jas. 
B. Owens. The convention also created a special council of four to 
assist the Governor. Perry appointed J. C. McGehee (president of 
convention), Gen. Morton, Maj. Jno. Beard and Col. Jos. Fincgan, 
members of this Council. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 442. 

* Census, i860. 



66 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

was ill control of " the railroad class who want secession 
for financial ends "/ This was an accusation frequently 
brought at that time and later against the seceding states.^ 
It is true that at this time the Florida Railroad owed one 
firm in New York three quarters of a million dollars.^ 
Heavy stockholders in the road were Floridians active in 
furthering secession. David L. Yulee, United States Sen- 
ator, was president of the road, and a prominent figure in 
the secession movement. Florida railways were then built 
mostly from the proceeds of the sale of bonds guaranteed 
by the Internal Improvement Fund of the state.* Since 
1850 more than $8,000,000 had been expended for the con- 
struction of railways in Florida.^ Part of this sum was 
contributed by capitalists in the North. Did secession mean 
necessarily the wiping-out of honest bonded indebtedness? 
In this tragic and complex crisis in the South's history did 
the selfish and sinister designs of a few Southern and 
Northern capitalists arouse the passionate and generally 
honest prejudices of the more than 5,000,000 Americans 
who promptly answered the long roll? 

A torch-light procession headed by a band of local 
musicians paraded the streets of Tallahassee. Before the 

1 N. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1861. 

* Lincoln referred .to this aspect of the situation in his first annual 
message to Congress, Dec. 13, 1861. " There are no courts nor officers 
to whom the citizens of other states may apply for the enforcement of 
their lawful claims against citizens of the insurgent states. Some of 
fthem have estimated it as high as $200,000,000, due in large part from 
insurgents, in open rebellion, to lawful citizens." — Complete Works 
(Nicolay & Hay), v. i, p. 99. 

3 H. Ex. Docs., 38th C, 2d S., no. 18, p. 83. M. O. Roberts of N. Y. 

* Minutes Trustees Internal Improvement Fund, Internal Improve- 
ment Bonds of Fla. — a pamphlet (1858) ; Fla. R. R. ist Mort. Bonds — 
a pamphlet ; Fla. Hist. Soc, etc. 

^ Census, i860. 



SECESSION 



07 



Capital Hotel Governor-elect Milton, Editor C. E. Dyke 
of the Floridian, and Mr. Hilton, who by Florida's seces- 
sion had lost his place in Congress, addressed the crowd, 
which roared approval to the leaders speaking there be- 
neath the flickering light of fat pine torch and astral oil 
lamp/ 

On the following afternoon, January nth, at a few 
minutes past one o'clock, the members of the convention 
proceeded in a body to the east portico of the capital build- 
ing. There in the presence of the legislature, the supreme 
court, Governor-elect Milton, cabinet members, and a 
throng of spectators, they signed the ordinance of seces- 
sion. The signing was by counties. Sixty-four of the 
sixty-nine delegates signed.^ 

The secretary of state, Mr. Villepigue, affixed the great 
seal of the state to the document, and, turning, faced the 
crowd assembled. In a " clear and distinct voice " he pro- 
claimed Florida " an independent nation ". A second later 
fifteen cannon were fired in salute of the new state and 
shouting broke forth. ^ 

Governor-elect Milton then stepped forward and pre- 
sented to the members of the convention a white silk flag 
bearing three blue stars. It was the handiwork of some pa- 
triotic women of East Florida. The three stars were for 
Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina, the states which 
had quit the Union. A speech by Mr. Butler King, commis- 
sioner of Georgia to the Florida legislature, concluded the 
process of ratification. 

" Thus terminates," stated a Florida journal, " the most 

^ N. Y. Herald, Jan. 25, 1861. Tallahassee letter. 
' Proceedings of Conven., p. 40. 

^ N. Y. Herald, Jan. 13, 1861 ; Rerick, Memoirs of Fla., v. i, pp. 235-6; 
Brevard and Bennett, Hist, of Fla., p. 157. 



68 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

glorious event in the history of Florida — her secession (we 
trust forever) from Yankeedom and Yankees ".^ 

The people of Florida were moving with the Southern 
current. They had reached the brink of a gulf whose 
depths they had no means of sounding. As votaries of 
some ancient creed once with emotion greeted the first glow 
of a new day, so over the South thousands, swept by en- 
thusiasm, sang beneath the morning star of a new national 
life. And like men borne upon the bosom of some vast 
flood, majestically they moved on their way impelled by 
political currents which like the streams of the sea came 
somewhere from the depths. Hozannahs and hoarse shout- 
ing for the future — not a requiem for the stricken Re- 
public — give to him who cares to examine our recent past 
the spirit which ushered in the cataclysm. The strength 
of Southern nationalism was to be tested in the fearful 
crucible of war. For the mass of Southerners — whether 
constitutional secessionists or revolutionists — there was no 
turning back after secession. " The moving finger writes 
and having writ, moves on." They heard the enthusiastic 
shouting — in which they joined, or were gravely silent, as 
the case might be — and then they followed to the last 
bloody whirlpool of defeat, destruction, and death with a 
fortitude strong and admirable, the fortunes of the Con- 
federacy, that new state which like some creation of the 
mists arose from out the maelstrom of secession. 

*N. Y. Herald, Jan. 13, 1861, quotation. 



CHAPTER IV 

The Seizure of Federal Property and the Raising of 

Troops 

The seizure of Federal fortifications and supplies by 
order of Florida's governor began before the formal con- 
summation of secession by the convention at Tallahassee. 
In December, i860, Senator Yulee wrote from Washing- 
ton to Joseph Finegan in Florida suggesting that the state 
should prepare to seize the Pensacola forts and navy-yard. 
Possession of the yard " would give a good supply of ord- 
nance and make the occupation of the forts easier ", stated 
Yulee. He and Senator Mallory jointly requested of the 
war department on January 2nd a statement of munitions 
and equipment in the Federal forts and arsenals of Flor- 
ida.^ Secretary Holt refused them the information,^ but 
Mallory a short time later transmitted to secession leaders 
in Pensacola information concerning the value of supplies 
in the Pensacola navy-yard.^ 

It is not unreasonble to assume that both Florida sen- 
ators were in intimate communication with Governor Perry, 
Joseph Finegan, Wilkinson Call, William Chase, and other 
state leaders who favored and expected a speedy secession.* 

^ Oif. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. i, p. 349; letter of Jan. 2, 1861. Yulee 
requested, on Dec. 21, i860, of the War Dept. a "statement of the 
officers of the U. S. who were appt. from Fla., their rank and pay." 
He obtained his information, see p. 348. 

' Ibid., s. i, V. I, p. 351 ; letter of Jan. g. 

^ Ibid., s. i, V. 52, pt. 2, p. 8. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. I, pp. 349, 444-S, etc. 

69 



70 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

" I did not advise or stimulate secession of the State," 
wrote Mr. Yulee four years later ; ^ yet he declared in a 
letter to Finegan, January 5th, 1861, that 

the immediately important thing to be done is the occupation 
of the forts and arsenals in Florida. The naval station and 
forts at Pensacola are first in consequence. For this a force 
is necessary. I have conversed with Mr. Toombs upon the 
subject. He will start this week for Georgia and says if the 
convention of sovereignty will ask Governor Brown of 
Georgia for a force he will immediately send a sufficient force.- 

Early in January Governor Perry appealed to Governor 
Moore of Alabama for aid in seizing and holding Federal 
fortifications in West Florida ^ — at that time almost with- 
out garrisons.* Before the end of December, i860, radical 
state leaders at home and in Washington were undoubtedly 
deeply involved in plans to paralyze and despoil the Fed- 
eral government if Florida should leave the Union.^ 

In November, i860, Captain Meigs of the United States 
army concluded that the government's control of its Florida 
forts was destined soon to be disputed. He expressed his 
views very plainly to General Scott. " There is danger," he 
wrote, " that a few ardent, desperate men, seeing the great 
fortifications of Pensacola, of Key West, and of this harbor 
[Tortugas] — the Key of the Gulf — unoccupied by troops, 
may emulate the fame of Ethan Allen and by a much less 
dangerous blow secure for themselves distinction with their 
party by seizing some of these undefended posts. The en- 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. ii, v. 8, pp. 668-670. 

2 Ibid., s. i, V. I, p. 442. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. I, p. 444. 

* H. Rpts., 36th C, 2d S., no. 85, pp. 26-27. 

''In this connection see the telegrams of Yulee and Soutter, Jan. 12, 
Off. Reds. Rebel}., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 6. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 71 

terprise is so safe and easy that leaders and men are to be 
found." ' 

Captain Brannan, commanding the Federal garrison at 
Key West, infonned the war department on December 
nth that 

the present condition of affairs in this State indicates very 
clearly that Florida by the act of her people will secede from 
the Federal Government. I have reliable information that as 
soon as the act is committed an attempt will be made to seize 
upon Fort Taylor. I therefore request instructions what I 
am to do — endeavor at all hazards to prevent Fort Taylor 
being taken, or allow the state authorities to have possession 
without any resistance on the part of my command? These 
instructions are absolutely necessary noiv as it may be too late 
after the State secedes. - 

He received no instructions. The national administration, 
though warned of danger, took no steps to better protect 
Federal property in Florida until too late.'' 

Without waiting for aid from abroad the governor pro- 
ceeded quietly and swiftly to execute his designs of usur- 
pation. " I hereby authorize you," he informed a Colonel 
Duryea early in January, " to raise a company of picked 
men and proceed to the Apalachicola river and seize and 
possess the arsenals, arms, ammunition, etc." The order 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 52, pt. i, p. 4. 

2 Ibid., s. i, V. I, pp. 342-343- 

' It is an interesting fact that on Jan. 2, i860, a year before the 
secession crisis, President Buchanan had requested of the war dept. a 
" statement " of the troops on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts " available 
for the defense of the public property." — See Works of Buchanan, 
V. X, p. 372. Mr. Buchanan declares in his "Administration on the 
Eve of Rebellion" (pp. 88-91), that there were not enough troops 
available to adequately garrison the forts : " Five companies only, 400 
men, to garrison nine fortifications scattered over six highly excited 
Southern States." He lays the blame for this condition of affairs on 
Gen. Scott and Congress. 



72 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

continued : " You are requested to act with great secrecy 
and discretion." ^ Another order of similar purport was 
issued to an aide regarding the occupation of Fort Marion 
at St. Augustine.^ 

On the morning of January 5th Ordnance Sergeant 
Powell of the Federal arsenal at Chattahoochee notified the 
war department that soon after daybreak the arsenal had 
been taken possession of by state troops.^ The Quincy 
Guards — a company of local militia — led by Colonel Duryea 
risked this revolutionary step,* for Florida was still nomi- 
nally in the Union. 

The sergeant in charge at Chattahoochee had been 
ordered to surrender. "I refused giving up the keys," stated 
Powell, " but the Governor telegraphed to the commanding 
officer to insist on the delivery of the same and I was com- 
pelled to give them up." " The work thus passed without 
violence into the hands of the state. It contained 500,000 
rounds of musket cartridges, 300,000 rounds of rifle cart- 
ridges, and 50,000 pounds of gunpowder.^ " If I had had 
a force equal or even one-half the strength of yours," 
Powell is reported to have said to Duryea, " I'll be damned 
if you would have ever entered that gate. You see I have 
but three men." '' 

1 H. Rpis., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 91, p. 93. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 333 ; H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 
91, p. 88. 

* H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 91, p. 88. There is a conflict of state- 
ment about the name of the militia commander at Apalachicola. One 
account gives it as Dunn ; see Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 332. 

*N. Y. Herald, Jan. 14, 1861 ; Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. i, pp. 332-3. 

5 H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 91, p. 92. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, pp. 332-333. 

' Quoted in A''. Y. World from So. Confed., Jan. 25, 1861. Ex. Docs., 
36th C, 2nd S., no. 85, states that the arsenal's garrison was then 
only 4. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 73 

At St. Augustine a company of volunteers marched to 
Fort Marion on January 7th and demanded possession. An 
aide-de-camp of Governor Perry showed written instruc- 
tions from his chief to seize the work.^ Without delay or 
controversy the dilapidated and almost empty fortification 
was surrendered by the single man constituting its garrison. 
" Upon reflection I decided that the only alternative for 
me was to deliver the keys under protest," ^ stated the gar- 
rison. " One thing is certain," he added with evident re- 
lief, " with the exception of the guns composing the water 
battery the property seized is of no great value " ^ — which 
was partly true. 

Unfinished and deserted Fort Clinch, protecting (on 
paper) Fernandina harbor, was quietly occupied by state 
troops a day or two after the Fort Marion episode.* 

Captain Brannan at Key West, on hearing of the passage 
of the secession ordinance at Tallahassee, transferred his 
entire force of forty-four men from the barracks to the 
interior of Fort Taylor.^ The Southern sympathizers on 
the island were turbulent and threatened to be aggressive,'' 
although they never made a determined attempt to expel 
the Federal garrison. In moving to Fort Taylor, Captain 
Brannan acted without instructions from Washington.^ 

1 H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 91, p. 88. 

* Ibid., no. 91, p. 94. 

' Off, Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. i, p. 333; N. Y. Herald, Jan. 25, 1861. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, pp. 367-68. 
5 Ibid., s. i, V. I, pp. 343-345- 

* Ibid., s. i, V. I, pp. 343-345, 360, 374-7, 411, 426. A''. Y. Herald, May 
24, 1861 ; June 6, 1861 — Key West Letters. A^. Y. Times, Feb. 28, 1862 
— Key West Letters. 

'' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, pp. 342, 344. The war dept, on Jan. 4, 
issued an order to Brannan to transfer his company to Ft. Taylor. 
The order did not reach its destination till Jan. 26th, after Brannan 
had shifted his force. 



74 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

On Pensacola bay the course of events indicating the dis- 
integration of Federal authority proved more involved. 
Lieutenant Adam Slemmer of the First Artillery v^as in 
command at Fort Barrancas — one of the three works flank- 
ing the mouth of the bay and at the time the only one v^ith a 
garrison. Slemmer's position in Florida during the first 
three months of 1861 w^as not unlike that of Major Ander- 
son in South Carolina. Anderson withdrev^ to Fort Sumter 
on December 26th; Slemmer, to Fort Pickens, January 
loth.^ Both men were confronted by much the same prob- 
lems. Both went through the strain of awaiting instruc- 
tions, supplies, and reinforcements which came not at all or 
slowly. Both were forced to prepare for extensive armed 
strife with fellow Americans of high position representing 
hostile governments. And therefore upon both was thrust 
by accident part of the responsibility of inaugurating a pro- 
gram of coercion which might vitally affect the fortunes of 
the Union. 

Slemmer was a man of nerve and coolness. In appear- 
ance he has been described as " small and insignificant "." 
He proved to have the courage to act boldly and decisively 
and the mental balance (or good fortune) to follow a suc- 
cessful course during a period of frightful confusion and 
uncertainty. Captain Armstrong of the navy-yard, with 
whom Slemmer had failed to agree, referred to him after- 
wards as " a gallant and trusty officer ".^ 

Rumors were abroad early in January that citizens of 
Florida and Alabama intended seizing Federal property on 
Pensacola bay.* Judged in the light of what had hap- 
pened in Florida and elsewhere these rumors seemed se- 

'^Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. i, p. 335; Rhodes, v. 3, pp. 216-17. 

2 N. Y. Herald, Apr. 23, 1861. 

^H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 66. 

* Off. Reds. Rebcll., s. i. v. i, p. 333. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 



75 



rious. When on the morning of January 7th news came that 
the forts on Mobile bay had been occupied by Alabama 
troops, and the Chattahoochee arsenal by Florida troops/ 
Lieutenant Slemmer at once conferred with Captain Arm- 
strong, commanding at the Pensacola navy-yard, about the 
necessity of immediate defensive measures." The captain, in 
absence of orders from Washington, refused to co-operate 
with Slemmer. Neither the characters nor the policies of 
the two men were alike — and in addition, they belonged to 
different branches of the public service. Slemmer was posi- 
tive, self-assured, and fully decided to prevent at all hazards 
the seizure of United States property in his care. Arm- 
strong was temporizing, cautious, and in this crisis unde- 
cided, fearful of provoking bloodshed, and inclined to take 
no risks by personal initiative.^ 

Slemmer wished to destroy the navy-yard and Fort Bar- 
rancas and to concentrate all force, naval and military, at 
Fort Pickens. Such would have been a very radical and 
politically portentous move in January, 1861. Some of the 
officers on board the Federal men-of-war lying in the har- 
bor agreed with Slemmer. Others, on the ships and ashore, 
held totally different views — particularly the aides of Cap- 
tain Armstrong.* The national government failed to keep 
up with and control the situation in West Florida. No 
harmonious or consistent policy for the Union was fol- 
lowed on Pensacola bay. 

* Fort Morgan was seized by Alabama militia on Jan. 4th ; Chatta- 
hoochee Arsenal (Fla.), Jan. 5th. See Fleming, Civil War and Recon- 
struction in Alabama, for reference to the situation in that state. 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. i, p. 334 ; Erben, Hy., Personal Recollec- 
tions of the Rebellion, pp. 213-222. 

' See Scharf, Confed. States Navy, pp. 602-603, for a letter of Lieut. 
Renshaw of Pensacola navy-yard, pub. in A''. Y. Herald, Jan. 29, 1861, 
discussing the situation in Florida. 

* H. Rpts., 36th C, and S., no. 87, passim. 



76 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Orders from Washington were " asked for but most 
likely they never got out of the state "/ At all events, no 
replies were received until the navy-yard commandant got 
the ridiculous order to keep the " Department " advised of 
what was going on and to be vigilant in protecting public 
property. 

The crisis had stunned Armstrong. He seemed unable to 
grasp the obvious character of the situation before him. The 
younger officers about him with whom he was accustomed 
to confer were bitterly divided in sentiment and gave dia- 
metrically conflicting advice.^ His most intimate advisors 
and friends among his subordinates were Southern sym- 
pathizers, and at that time some of them were playing 
double parts in their efforts to have the yard pass without 
bloodshed into the possession of the state. " There were 
enemies in his own household," affirmed a friend — " none 
that he could rely upon but the 25 or 30 muskets that he had 
in his marine guard." ^ 

Lieutenant Erben of the store-ship Supply visited the cap- 
tain's quarters late in the night of the 9th and strongly ad- 
vised the destruction at once of all property in the navy- 
yard to prevent its seizure by state militia. Armstrong 
seemed " completely dazed ". He read to Erben his last 
orders from Washington, — " to be vigilant in protecting 
government property ". " Now you ask me to destroy it," 

' Erben, Hy., Personal Recollections of the Rebellion. See letter of 
Senator Yulee (in Washington) to Chase (in Pensacola), which stated 
that it was " charged that the correspondence of the Government 
through the mail has been interfered with on the part of State authori- 
ties. Let the post-master send a dispatch." — Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 
52, pt. 2, pp. 8, 14. Also H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 55- 

' Erben, op. cit., passim. Oilman, J. H., in Battles and Leaders of the 
Civil War, v. i, p. 27. 

' H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, pp. 54-55. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 



77 



he said hopelessly and blankly. " I did all I could to get 
his permission," stated Erben, 

but failed. He went to the parlor door, called his orderly and 
sent him for Commander Farrand. Then I knew it was all up. 
There was some violent talk after Farrand came. He asked 
the Commodore to put me under arrest and send me back to 
the ship ; said that I was crazy and had been disrespectful to 
him. The Commodore refused to do this. Then Farrand 
rose, seized a chair, threw it at my head and left the room. 
I remained with the old Commodore a while. His face was 
buried in his hands and he was crying like a child.^ 

On the night of January 8th the sentries at Fort Bar- 
rancas saw dimly a body of men moving about along the 
outskirts of the fortifications.^ The corporal of the guard 
gave the alarm and the midnight visitors disappeared in the 
dense shadows of the scrub and brush which almost sur- 
rounded the work at a short distance.^ A few hours before 
this the telegraph office at Pensacola had been seized by 
state troops and a sentry placed on guard.* Soldiers from 
Alabama and Mississippi were already on their way to 
West Florida or preparing to leave for that region.^ It 
was probably knowledge of such incidents as these which 
finally decided Slemmer to abandon Forts McRee and Bar- 
rancas on the mainland and to occupy the extremely im- 
portant and more easily defended work, Fort Pickens, situ- 
ated on the western extremity of Santa Rosa Island and 
completely commanding the entrance to the bay. Had the 

' Erben, Hy., op. cit., p. 217. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 334. 

3 Gilman, J. H., op. cit., v. i, p. 27. Gilman was of Slemmer's force. 

* H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 55. 

* Pub. Miss. Hist. Soc, v. ix, p. 17 ; H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, 
p. 55 ; Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 444. 



78 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

secessionists come into possession of Pickens they would 
have controlled the best protected and deepest harbor on 
the Gulf coast. Pensacola bay would have been of great 
value to the Confederacy. 

Slemmer prepared to act on his own responsibility, for 
no orders had come from the war department. Prepara- 
tions for the removal of his troops across the channel were 
begun on January 9th. The night mail brought an order 
from the war department telling him " to do his utmost 
to prevent the seizure of either of the forts in Pensacola 
harbor ".^ This order came through the mail " in a small 
pink envelope addressed in a woman's hand ".^ 

After some controversy with Captain Armstrong of the 
navy-yard, Lieutenant Slemmer obtained from him an addi- 
tion of thirty unarmed seamen to his little command.^ On 
the morning of January loth this force of eighty-one men 
quit Barrancas and moved across the channel in barges to 
Pickens, arriving about 10 A. M.* The ammunition and 
supplies at Barrancas were carried to Pickens or destroyed. 
The guns there bearing upon the latter fort were spiked.^ 

' Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. i, p. 334 — from Gen. Scott; Gilman, J. H., 
op. cit., V. I, p. 27. 

* Erben, Hy., op. cit., p. 214 ; Gilman, op. cit., p. 27. The following 
explanation was given a few weeks later by L. Q. Washington, a Con- 
federate secret service man, to Secretary of War Walker : " When the 
first step of occupying Fort Pickens was taken by the U. S., the orders 
were sent down by a special messenger and also by a telegram in cipher. 
The telegram left here in the night [and] was stopped at Mobile or 
Montgomery by our friends. I gave the fact early next day to the 
Florida delegation, but the special messenger went through, delivered 
his message to Lieut. Slemmer, and thus we lost Ft. Pickens." — Wash- 
ington to Walker, Mar. 20, 1861. Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, 
p. 27. 

2 H. Rpts., 36th C., 2nd S., no. 87. 

* Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. i, p. 335. 

* Ibid., p. 335. More than 20,000 lbs. of powder were in Barrancas at 
the time and ig,ooo in McRee, p. 349-50. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 



79 



No steps were taken by Slemmer to remove or destroy 
the munitions of war or spike the guns at Fort McRee. 
Lieutenant Erben of the store-ship Supply undertook this 
work. With a boat's crew he pulled down to McRee. The 
sergeant in charge was away and his wife, the sole occu- 
pant of a fort built for 650/ refused to give up the keys. 
The doors were promptly battered in; the guns bearing on 
Pickens, spiked ; and several thousand pounds of powder in 
barrels, rolled to the beach and thrown into the sea.^ 

By the nth of January the transfer to Pickens had been 
completed and the big fort, built for a garrison of 1,260, 
was manned by 81 men.^ It was in delapidation. Few 
guns were mounted. The gun-carriages were rickety and 
antiquated. Windows and port-holes lacked shutters. 
Weeds were growing riotously in the central court. The 
gloomy chambers were musty and mouldy from long dis- 
use.* 

Preparations meanwhile were being made in Pensacola for 
the occupation of the navy-yard by force if necessary. Col- 
onel William Chase, a retired army officer resident in Pen- 
sacola, assumed general command or direction of not only 
the local militia, but of the Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi 
and Georgia state troops that began to pour into Pensa- 
cola after January ioth.° On that day Senator Mallory 
in Washington telegraphed Chase : " All here look to you 

^ Ex. Docs., 36th C, 2nd S., no. y2, pp. 26-27. 

* Erben, Hy., op. cit., pp. 215-16; Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. i, p. 341. 

* See Scharf, Confed. States Navy, p. 600, for description of Pickens. 
Scharf from practical experience was well prepared to discuss such sub- 
jects. Off. Reds. Rehell., s. i, v. i, p. 2>2>7- " 81 men, including officers," 
says Slemmer. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, pp. 337, 379-80; Gilman, J. H., op. cit., 
V. I, p. 29. 

^ H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 66 ; Off. Reds, Rebell., s. i, v. 52, 
pt. 2, p. II. 



8o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

for Pickens and McRee "/ At the navy-yard — seven miles 
distant — Captain Armstrong had pretty clearly determined 
to offer no resistance to aggression. " There was of course 
some excitement there," stated the chief engineer, a Union 
man. " Some would say the troops are coming. Some 
would say no troops are coming. The naval storekeeper, 
Gonzalez, knew all about it." ^ Armstrong, the com- 
mander, evidently did not know. A last request was sent 
him on January 12th by Slemmer praying that the few 
marines be ordered across the channel into Pickens if the 
yard was to be surrendered.^ No reply came, for as Slem- 
mer awaited the return of the messenger the navy -yard was 
passing out of the Federal government's control. 

The first Alabama militia to arrive in Pensacola reached 
there late on the evening of January nth.* The com- 
panies were led by Colonel Lomax. They were sent by the 
governor of Alabama at the request of the governor of 
Florida. The following day, January 12th, a detachment 
of Florida and Alabama troops, about 500 strong, marched 
to the navy-yard accompanied by two " commissioners " of 
Florida appointed by Governor Perry. ^ Following the de- 

' Off. Reds. Retell. , s. i, v. i, p. 444. 

^ H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, pp. 32-33. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, pp. 4, 7; //. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd 
S., no. 87, p. 65. "He [Slemmer] wanted the marines," said Arm- 
strong, " but the marines were my only protection." 

* H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 55 ; Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. i, 
P- 337." V. 52, pt. 2, p. 5; s. iv, v. i, p. 704. The troops were part of 
the 2nd Alabama Infantry. 

f' * Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, pp. 4, 7 ; H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd 
S., no. 87, pp. 32, 57-60, ete. Records are not conclusive on the number 
of men who marched to the yard. Estimates vary from 350 to more 
than 500. Scharf (p. 601) says "nearly 500 men." The "commission- 
ers " of Florida, according to Capt. Armstrong, were Rich. Campbell 
of Pensacola and Capt. Randolph. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 8 1 

tachment came a crowd of " citizens of Pensacola. Those 
who had a musket and owned a horse jumped on and took 
their guns and came down to see the fun."^ 

The militia, commissioners and spectators found the 
gates of the yard closed and sentries walking the walls. 
" The thick and lofty walls made them feel rather ticklish," 
wrote an officer who experienced the sensation.^ A com- 
pany was sent immediately to take possession of the maga- 
zines and the abandoned forts. ^ Colonel Lomax, Colonel 
Chase, and the commissioners were admitted to the 
yard under flag of truce and proceeded to the headquarters 
of Captain Armstrong.* 

" We are commissioners appointed by Florida to de- 
mand the surrender of this yard," announced the affable 
Captain Randolph of Alabama, one of the commissioners. 
The dazed Armstrong looked helplessly at the speaker. 
The yard's garrison was less than fifty effective men. Col- 
onel Lomax was sent for. He quickly entered the room. 
"Commodore, I will read you my instructions," said Lomax. 
" He read his instructions to me and was almost as much 
distressed and embarrassed as I was," stated Armstrong 
later. 

He had to stop very frequently. I concluded that he felt my 
position, for which I felt very grateful to him ; . . . I stated 
to him that I had not the force to resist him; that my whole 
force consisted of a couple of dozen marines; that the place 
was not fortified ; and that I had no alternative but surrender. 
... To my great surprise the first lieutenant of the yard, 

^ H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 32. 

^Randolph (a "commissioner" at the time) in Phila. Weekly Times, 
May 20, 1882. 

»//. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 15. 

< H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, pp. 8, 57, etc. Scharf, op. cit., pp. 
602-3, acct. by Lieut. Renshaw in letter to N. Y. Herald, Jan. 29, 1861. 



82 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

who was sitting back of me spoke out in a very audible voice, 
" CommoCiOre, shall I haul down the flag?" 1 looked at the 
man astonished. It appeared to rouse me from a dream. I 
bowed and turned my head away.^ 

A few minutes later a man rushed up to the chief engi- 
neer and asked if the yard was given up. " I told him," 
said the officer, " that judging from the looks of the flag 
staff I should think it was." ' At half-past twelve the flag 
of the Union had been replaced by " a flag of 13 alternate 
stripes of red, white and blue with a large white star an- 
nouncing " the change which had come to pass in the politi- 
cal condition of the state. ^ Comparative tranquillity ac- 
companied the transfer of authority. " The bell rang for 
the workmen at the yard about the usual hour that it had 
done under the Government of the United States," affirmed 
Armstrong. 

I saw the smoke going up from the tall chimneys of the ma- 
chine shop and blacksmith shop, just as usual — as though noth- 
ing had transpired ; the mechanics and those employed by the 
Government had just transferred their allegiance to Florida 
and were going on with their work.* 

As the anxious watchers at Fort Pickens saw the national 
flag lowered they knew well what it meant. It was the cul- 
minating incident in the episode of dispossessing the Fed- 
eral government on Pensacola bay. That power had lost 
its most important naval base on the Gulf, a "million-dollar" 
dry-dock, extensive and valuable marine work-shops, ware- 
houses, barracks, a well-equipped " marine hospital ", two 

' H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, pp. 57-59; testimony of Capt. Arm- 
strong before the Select Committee of the House on Naval Affairs, 
1861. 

* Ibid., p. 29. * Scharf, op. cit., p. 602. 

* H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 61. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 83 

powerful forts, 175 cannon, more than 12,000 projectiles,^ 
and ordnance stores at the navy-yard variously estimated in 
value from $117,000 to $500,000. 

The command of the Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, and Florida militia which after January loth rap- 
idly concentrated at Pensacola devolved upon Colonel Chase 
of Florida. He held his commission as military commander 
from the governor of Florida. Cautious by nature and 
probably more astute as a politician than bold as a military 
man, he was fearful of provoking armed conflict. His 
policy was consistently conservative — and wisely so — in 
spite of pressure toward radicalism brought to bear upon 
him by those at Pensacola and leaders in Washington. Col- 
onel Lomax, commander of the Alabama troops, was eager 
to attack Fort Pickens." Senator Mallory and Senator 
Yulee advised Chase by telegraph to move on Pickens.^ 
But the colonel hesitated. 

The night of January 12th came dark and rainy. Across 
the channel from Pickens Alabama and Florida militia were 
now encamped about the abandoned Forts McRee and Bar- 
rancas and the captured navy-yard. Sometime near mid- 
night four men presented themselves to the guard before 
the main entrance to Pickens. They demanded admittance 

1 Oif. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. i, pp. 349-3S0. The ordnance at Ft. Bar- 
rancas consisted of 44 "sea-coast and garrison cannon," which included 
13 8-in. columbiads and howitzers, 2 lo-in. mortars, 11 32-pounders, 
10 24's, 5 i8's, 3 ig's. 

The ordnance at Barrancas barracks : 4 6's field guns and 2 12's 
howitzers. 

The ordnance at Ft. McRee : 125 " sea-coast and garrison cannon," 
including 3 lo-in. and 12 8-in. columbiads, 20 42's, 24 32's, 64 24's, etc. 

See Rpt. Capt. Maynadier, Jan. 3, 1861. 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 11; Randolph in Philadelphia 
Weekly Times, May 20, 1882. 

' Off. Reds. Retell. , s. i, v. i, p. 444. 



84 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

as commissioners of Florida and Alabama. This was re- 
fused. Thereupon Captain Randolph, the leader, demanded 
the surrender of the fort to the governors of Florida and 
Alabama.^ Lieutenant Slemmer, who had been summoned 
by the guard, replied that the fort was held under orders 
from the President of the United States; that he recognized 
no rights of any governors to demand the surrender of 
United States property; and that he would defend the place 
against attack. After this explicit and positive reply the 
representatives of the states withdrew. 

During the weeks of cold and rainy weather which fol- 
lowed, the few men at Pickens were kept hard at work 
putting the dilapidated fortification in shape for defense. 
Twice during the period Chase demanded that Slemmer 
surrender. " I have full power," he informed Slemmer, 
January i8th, 

from the Governor of Florida to take possession of the forts 
and the Navy Yard in the harbor. I desire to perform this 
duty without the effusion of blood. ... I would not counsel 
you to do aught that is dishonorable. . . . Listen to me, then, 
I beg of you, and act with me in preventing the shedding of 
the blood of brethren. Surrender the fort.^ 

Slemmer replied : 

We deprecate as much as you or any individual can the pres- 
ent state of affairs, or the shedding of the blood of our breth- 
ren. In regard to this matter, however, we must consider you 
the aggressors and if blood is shed, you are responsible there- 
for.3 

^ Off. Reds. RehelL, p. 2Z7\ Gilman, J. H., in Battles and Leaders of 
the Civil War, v. i, pp. 29-30. 
' Off. Reds. Rebeli, s. i, v. i, pp. 337-338. 
» Ibid., p. 338. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 85 

The position of the Federal force at Fort Pickens was 
perilous. Colonel Lomax and his Alabama troops wished to 
storm the work/ Mississippians and Floridians would 
have eagerly gone with such a storming party. The Fed- 
eral warship Wyandotte was ordered to Cuba and the 
Supply sailed for Vera Cruz, Mexico, soon after Slem- 
mer's transfer.^ The administration in Washington failed 
to support the little group of men doggedly facing odds in 
Florida. Until the firing on Sumter, fairly amicable rela- 
tions existed between Slemmer's force in Pickens and the 
Southern troops across the channel. Intercourse between 
the merchants of Pensacola and the Federal garrison con- 
tinued unrestricted for several weeks. Meat and vegetables 
came to the island almost daily. The garrison mail was al- 
lowed to go through after undergoing examination.^ 
United States officers from Pickens with militia officers 
from the opposing forces were entertained occasionally at 
the same banquet tables on the Federal warships anchored 
off the harbor.* 

The seizure of Federal property in Florida was the 
logical concomitant of secession. It threw in high relief 
the real situation. Directed by executive order solely and 
accomplished by force, it clearly indicated the arrival of the 
crisis in Florida. Governor Perry's designs had been exe- 
cuted, not gently by civil agents with the conventional 
respect for diplomatic usage, but abruptly by armed militia 

^ Randolph in Phila. Weekly Times, May 20, 1882. Off. Reds. Rebell, 
s. i, V. 52, pt. 2, p. II ; indirect reference to the intention of Lomax to 
occupy Pickens. 

" H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., no. 87, p. 15; Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. i, 
P- 336. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 340. 

* Scharf, op. cit., p. 607. Gen. Bragg, of the Confed. army on Pensa- 
cola bay, dined several times with Capt. Adams of the U. S. ship Sabine. 



86 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

with the usual reliance upon physical force. It is doubtful 
if the state could have acquired Federal property by any 
other means. The governor acted with powerful backing. 
Senators Mallory and Yulee very probably expressed to 
him approval of his policy before it was put into execution. 
The secession leaders in the convention were his political 
friends and advisors. The governors of Alabama and 
Mississippi were with him — gave him assurances of aid in 
December and followed the assurances with troops in Janu- 
ary. Finally, what is of fundamental importance, Perry 
had acted in substantial accord with public opinion in Flor- 
ida. The desire there to quit the Union was strong. The 
average citizen South had little patience with " kid-glove ", 
doctrinaire, or conservative methods of opposing the 
North. The governor had guessed correctly the temper of 
his people. As one man put it : " He would have been a 
damn fool if he had guessed anything else." 

Yet the breakdown of Federal administration in Florida 
was not as immediate as might be inferred from the exist- 
ence of such sentiment. Within the state many of the post- 
masters, several Federal internal revenue officials, public- 
land officials, marshals, deputy marshals, light-house keep- 
ers, customs officials, naval and army officers as well as a 
Federal district judge, all resigned formally or informally 
gave up their positions either a few days before or a few 
days after Florida seceded.^ Some continued nominally at 
their posts until Sumter was fired on. Remittances from 
some Florida post-offices reached the postal department in 
Washington until April, i86i.^ Of the 174 postmasters 
in the state at the beginning of the year only 35 had for- 

' U. S. OfUc. Directory, 1861, pp. 67, 78, 79, 191, 198, 204-206; Sen. 
Doc^., 37th C, 2nd S., no. i, pp. 386, 479, 646; no. 2, pp. 183, 204. 
H. Repts., 36th C, 2nd S., pp. 7, 8, 9, 24, 25. 

* Sen. Ex. Docs., 37th C., 2nd S., no. i, p. 646. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 87 

mally resigned by June.^ Federal customs officials made no 
remittances to Washington after January, 1861.^ They 
turned over their receipts to the state treasury — most of 
them continuing for some time at their posts as state cus- 
toms officials. This situation — viz., the general resignation 
or desertion of Federal employees in compliance with state 
law and public opinion — quickly paralyzed the operation of 
Federal law in Florida. 

Yulee and Mallory publicly gave up their seats in the 
United States Senate on January 21st ^ — eleven days after 
their state had seceded. " I trust, Sir, that when we next 
confront each other," said Mallory on taking leave of his 
fellow senators, " whether at this bar or that of the just 
God, who knows the hearts of all, our lips shall not have 
uttered a word, our hands shall not have committed an act 
against the blood of our people." He concluded: " One by 
one we have seen the representatives of the true and fear- 
less friends of the Constitution fall at our sides until hardly 
a forlorn hope remains; and whatever be our destiny the 
future with all of life's darker memories will be brightened 
by their devotion to the true principles of our govern- 
ment." * 

As already pointed out, the people of Florida since the 
autumn of i860 had been in process of forming many 
minor military organizations hostile to the Union. These 
companies within a few months became part of the state 
militia or part of the Confederate army. The popular ris- 
ing in the South and the rapid organization of Confederate 

^ Sen. Ex. Docs., 37th C, 2nd S., no. i, p. 286. ^ Ibid., no. 2, p. 183. 

' Cong. Globe, 36th C, 2nd S., pp. 484, 4S6. On January 15th Yulee 
and Mallory informed Gov. Perry that they had " ceased participating 
in the proceedings of the Senate and only await receipt of authoritative 
ordinance to retire formally." — Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 8. 

* Cong. Globe, 36th C, 2nd S., p. 486. 



88 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

armies constitute proof that radical Southern governors 
had judged well the times. 

In i860 the condition of the Florida militia was ineffi- 
cient. Population was spread thinly over the land/ and 
citizens for one reason or another had failed to show much 
interest in local military affairs. They would have seemed 
to the casual observer a most unmilitary folk, interested in 
their farms, plantations, and homes, to the exclusion of 
other things. The militia existed principally on the statute 
books. But when the slave-holding states, " obeying the 
same swell of public sentiment ", began to move toward dis- 
union and possible war, then men began to group themselves 
into military companies. The crisis brought to pass what 
previous militia laws had failed to accomplish. 

In 1858, '59, '60 Governor Perry had referred in his mes- 
sages to the inefficiency of the state military organization 
and the necessity of a military capable of meeting the diffi- 
culties which he believed impending.^ The legislature fol- 
lowed his advice in 1859 by passing a law which provided 
for the reorganization of the militia.^ State-wide elections 
by county for commissions in the militia were held during 
the spring of i860. Slight interest was manifested. The 
voting was light. From seven counties no returns at all were 
received.* The election was probably not devoid of im- 
portance. It turned people's attention at a critical time to 
the local military question and thus helped prepare the state 
for the unusual stress and strain and confusion of 1861. 

During the latter half of i860 vigilant committees 

' Census, i860. White population was 77,747 ; black, 62,677. This 
meant less than 2 persons to the square mile. Massachusetts at the 
time had more than 75 per square mile and New York more than 50. 

* Governor's Messages, Floiidian. 
' Laivs of Florida, 1859. 

* Floridian, June 16, i860. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 89 

and companies of " Minute Men " — semi-military in char- 
acter — had been organized in Florida. During the late 
autumn some of these companies began to proffer their ser- 
vices to the state. When the governor accepted them (and 
he did so with alacrity) they became part of the militia. It 
was after the formation of a Southern confederacy in Feb- 
ruary that the increasing multitude of independent military 
bodies springing into existence throughout Florida began 
to coalesce under the governor's direction into regiments 
for the Confederate service. 

The first troops were mobilized, organized, and equipped 
principally from private means directly.^ Local leaders and 
their friends bore most of the expense which was shifted 
to the state or the Confederacy later by reimbursements.^ 
The governor, co-operating with his adjutant-general, re- 
ceived the companies and regiments into service.^ Perry, 
in a message to the legislature on February 2nd, 1861, ad- 
vised that practical steps be taken at once to increase and 
more effectively organize the state militia. On February 
14th a law was enacted which really created Florida's Civil 
War militia.* The adjutant-general was by the statute di- 
rected to distribute blank lists of enrollment to every cap- 
tain and lieutenant then holding a commission from the 
state. These officers were to canvass for the signatures of 
volunteers. The must*"r-roll of each company formed in 
this manner was to be published in the newspapers of the 
geographical district from which the company hailed. The 
governor was authorized to raise at once two regiments of 

^ Off. Reds. Rehell, s. iv, v. i, p. 2?>?i- Conversation with those who 
lived in Florida at the time. 

' Treasurer's Report to Convention, Jan., 1862, Proceedings of Coiu- 
ven., p. 71. 

' Proceedings of Conven., 1862, passim. 

* Laws of Florida, 1861, loth Sess., chap. 1095. 



go RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

infantry and one of cavalry. Elaborate rules were formu- 
lated for the government of the state's army, which during 
the first year of war existed as an organization distinct 
from the Confederate army. 

The formal organization of the Confederate army was 
begun on March ist, 1861. On that day the secretary of 
war notified the governors of the states in the Confederacy 
that by the act of February 28th the president of the Con- 
federate States was authorized to receive volunteers for 
twelve months and was directed to assume command of all 
military in matters " concerning outside powers "/ Rap- 
idly from this date (March ist) the Confederate war de- 
partment shaped the course of military organization in the 
states. On March 6th the " Confederate States Army " 
was created by act of Congress.^ The president was au- 
thorized therein to employ the militia of the states to repel 
invasion and to call out as national troops 100,000 volun- 
teers for twelve months. Volunteers were to furnish their 
own clothes and if mounted their own horses. When the 
volunteer entered " active service " he was to be reim- 
bursed by the Confederate government for the clothing fur- 
nished by himself. 

On March 9th the first requisitions for troops were ad- 
dressed to the governors by the Confederate war depart- 
ment. " If you can supply this requisition immediately 
without publication of your order," wrote Secretary Walker 
to the governors, " it would be better to do so, as it is ad- 
visable as far as practicable to keep our movements con- 
cealed from the Government of the United States." 5,000 
troops were requisitioned for " duty at Pensacola ". 
Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana were asked to furnish 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. iv, v. i, pp. 117-119. 

* Ibid., p. 126. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 



91 



1,000 soldiers each to this army; Mississippi, 1,500; and 
Florida, 500/ 

By the middle of March the mobilization of Florida 
troops — both militia and Confederate — was well under 
way. Companies were assembling with clatter and con- 
fusion at Tallahassee, Chattahoochee, Jacksonville, Fernan- 
dina, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Apalachicola, Quincy, 
Marianna, Monticello, Pensacola, etc.' Regiments soon 
began to take shape and the state government rapidly as- 
sumed the expense of equipment, travel and maintenance 
for all troops raised in Florida. The Confederate govern- 
ment from time to time paid to the state sums in liquida- 
tion of this debt incurred for Confederate troops.^ During 
the year 1861, $478,253 were expended by the state govern- 
ment for the Confederacy, according to the state adjutant- 
general. Of this amount $267,755 went for arms, ammu- 
nition, and general equipment.* The direction and super- 
vision of expenditure were divided between the governor 
and the state quartermaster-general. The state accounts 
are so badly muddled that it is probably impossible to esti- 
mate with accuracy how much was really expended and for 
what. 

Arms, ammunition, accoutrements, tents, and even cloth- 
ing for Florida troops were purchased in Charleston, Sa- 
vannah, Columbus (Georgia), Mobile, and New Orleans.^ 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. iv, v. i, p. 135. 

* Robertson, Soldiers of Florida, with regimental histories and com- 
pany rolls with date of mustering into service, passim. 

' For the question of reimbursing Florida, see Confederate Congress 
Journal, H. Docs., 58th C, 2nd S., v. i, pp. 377, 427, 448, 449, 463. The 
first act to reimburse Florida was passed Aug. 31, 1861. 

* Adj.-Gen.'s Report, Proceedings of Conven., 1862, pp. 25, 31. 

* Bezenet to Long, Apr. 11, 1865; Milton to Seddon, Aug. 26, 1864; 
Secretary of Gov. to Puleston, Apr. 22, 1865. Milton Papers. 



g2 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Such supplies began to come into the state as early as Janu- 
ary, 1 86 1. The New York Herald stated in February that 
since December, i860, the Florida government had received 
from outside its limits 1,000 Manard rifles, 4,000 percus- 
sion muskets, 50,000 ball cartridges, and 180,000 primers/ 
The muskets came probably from South Carolina — for 
early in January, L. W. Spratt, the one-time commissioner 
to Florida, shipped from Charleston to Governor Perry 
4,000 " United States percussion muskets ".^ 

Supplies from Mobile for Florida were brought by boat 
into Perdido bay, landed west of Pensacola, and carted about 
fifteen miles to the troops encamped at the navy-yard and 
Fort Barrancas. Supplies from eastern Alabama and cen- 
tral Georgia came by boat down the Chattahoochee river or 
overland by wagon into Central Florida.^ Supplies from 
Charleston and Savannah came into the state by water and 
rail to Fernandina and Jacksonville, and from these points 
were distributed.* Rifles, muskets, pistols, sabres, field- 
guns, saddles, accoutrements, ammunition, and tents came 
from other states. Wagons, horses, forage, food, and some 
clothing came from within the state. 

Before the end of the war many counties, towns, villages, 
and families were contributing directly to the support of 
soldiers in the field. The women at first embroidered flags 
and banners for the companies and regiments. Grim real- 
ities soon put them desperately to work on socks, mufflers, 
bandages, coats, sand sacks, etc. They wove or purchased 
cloth which they made into clothing for the soldiers.^ The 

^ Neiv York Herald, Feb. — , 1861. (Townsend Library, Columbia 
University.) 

^ Off. Reds. RehelL, s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, pp. 12, 29. 

' Ibid., s. iv, V. I, p. 779. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. I, p. 408. 

^Governor's Messages, Nov. 17, 1862; Nov. 21. 1864, Milton Papers. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 93 

State purchased cloth and delivered it to patriotic organiza- 
tions of women to be fashioned into soldiers' garments.'^ 

The companies composing the first few regiments were 
possessed of considerable esprit-de-corps and local pride. 
War was new to the rank and file. Traditions of glory and 
prowess in combat are handed down from one generation 
to the other, and each generation secretly yearns to tread 
the paths of glory. Traditions of misery and unburied dead 
whose festering blood-clotted bodies pathetically attest the 
reality of the combat seem to each new generation unnatural 
and hideous facts to be recollected in a crisis with a dimmed 
memory and labeled by the practical man as bugaboos. In 
Florida, company colors were presented by enthusiastic 
friends amid cheering, speech-making, tears, singing, 
stately oaths, and martial music. The war was glorious 
then — clothed in a sort of tinsel glory. It became hideous 
later, and from the stench and gloom of the grave a new 
and different glory sprang — more lasting, sadder, more 
beautiful perhaps. " I well remember the presentation of 
our company colors by the sister of our captain," remarked 
a member of the First Florida Infantry many years later. 
" I have seen many flags since, but that was the most beau- 
tiful to me." 

The First Infantry was mustered regularly into Confed- 
erate service on April 5th, 1861, for twelve months' ser- 
vice, and it embarked at once on river boats at Chattahoo- 
chee, Florida, en route via Columbus, Georgia, for Pensa- 
cola ^ — a round-about way. " Along the way we were told 

^ Laws of Florida, chap. 1288, nth Sess., and resolutions 4 and 5; 
chap. 1427, I2th Sess. ; chap. 1454, 13th Sess. Finley to Milton, Dec. 
16, 1863 ; Apr. 16, 1864. Milton Papers. Rpt. Q.-M. Gen., Oct. 21, 1864, 
Sen. Journal (Fla.). 

« Off. Reds. RebelL, s. iv, v. i, p. 188. 



94 RECONSTRUCTION JN FLORIDA 

that Sumter had been fired on," said a veteran. " There 
was cheering." ^ 

Before the First Regiment reached Pensacola the Con- 
federate government made a new call (April 8th) for vol- 
unteers. The requisition to Florida this time was for 1,500 
men.^ On April i6th, 2,000 more troops from Florida were 
called for. " If you cannot raise the amount I will revoke 
the order," telegraphed the secretary to Governor Perry. 
" Will raise the 2,000 as soon as possible," replied Perry.^ 
By June the governor was prepared to fill the requisition,* 
but the regiments then organized were not mustered in 
till July and August.^ The requisitions for the Confederate 
" Reserve Corps " were sent out on June 30th. Florida 
was asked for 1,000 men.® The reserves were maintained 
by the state in camps of instruction until absorbed in the 
active army of the Confederacy. 

During 1861 the Confederate war department called on 
Florida for 5,000 troops. The muster rolls of those mili- 
tary organizations entering state and Confederate service 
during this first year of hostilities present a sum total of 
6,772 — of whom 5,491 were infantry, 1,150 cavalry, and 
331 artillery. They were grouped in four infantry regi- 
ments ; one cavalry regiment ; nine unattached companies 
of infantry; four of artillery, and three of cavalry.^ Most 

^ Mr. Wm. Trimmer, Molino, Fla., who was mustered in at Apala- 
chicola, Company B. 

" Off. Reds. Rehell., s. iv, v. i, pp. 211, 213. 

' Ibid., * Ibid., p. 2,5Z- 

^ Robertson, Soldiers of Florida, pp. 77, 99, 118, 247. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, v. i, p. 412. 
Robertson, op. cit., pp. 35-135, 246-260, 296-304. I am much indebted 
to the industry and scholarship of the late Col. Fred L. Robertson, of 
Tallahassee. His short regimental and company histories and extended 
compilation of muster rolls with notes are of sound value to the stu- 
dent of the Civil War in Florida. 



THE SEIZURE OF FEDERAL PROPERTY 95 

of the unattached companies were in the state militia, which 
numbered less than 1,000 men/ Men sought enrollment in 
the Confederate army in preference to the militia, and cav- 
alry was the popular branch of the service. " There is 
much derangement of military affairs in this State owing 
chiefly to the desire to enter Confederate service for short 
periods and certain pay," stated the governor of Florida in 
October, 1861. " Almost every man that has a pony wishes 
to mount him at the expense of the Confederate govern- 
ment." ' 

A committee of the legislature estimated the current rate 
of military expenditures by the state at the close of 1861 to 
be $750,000 per annum — an exaggerated estimate com- 
puted upon a depreciating currency.^ Yet the militia was a 
heavy drain upon the credit of the state, and therefore 
many people (including the committee) wished to have the 
Confederate Government take over entirely the maintenance 
of all troops. 

The question of recruitment, mobilization, and regi- 
mental organization became in a few months a matter for 
Confederate officials primarily. After June 30th, 1861, no 
more requisitions were sent by the war department directly 
to the governor of Florida. The state was divided into 
military districts, and the officers in charge presented requi- 
sitions to the governor and were aided by him in raising 
troops. The Conscript Act was passed in April, 1862. The 
Confederate congress therein declared all able-bodied men 
of specified age liable for duty in the Confederate army.* 

''Rpt. Adj.-Gen., Proceedings of Conven., 1862, p. 28. In Jan., 1862, 
the number of state troops was 762. 

' Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 6, p. 290. 

* Proceedings of Conven., 1862. 

* The Convention of 1862 at Tallahassee abolished the state militia. 
In Dec, 1864, the state legislature passed a law for the reorganiza- 



o5 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

This practically abolished the state militia. The single, 
homogeneous military system of the new central govern- 
ment thus superseded the eleven systems of the common- 
wealths. 

tion of the militia to include males under i6 and over 55 years of 
age. See Laws of Florida, 13th S., chap. 1433. 



CHAPTER V 
The Fort Pickens Truce 

President Buchanan's policy in the secession crisis 
was not aggressive. " Defense and not aggression has been 
the policy of the administration from the beginning," ^ he 
stated late in January, 1861. With this principle he was 
consistent to the end, and for this course he has been bitterly 
criticised. If Mr. Buchanan had been more combative, less 
regardful of the constitution, and less logical in law he 
might have acquired a reputation for executive efficiency 
equal to that of Andrew Jackson and not to be surpassed 
by the later fame of Abraham Lincoln. 

The President realized that a serious breach existed be- 
tween North and South,- but he blindly hoped that a pro- 
gram of laissez faire would bring about somehow a peaceful 
adjustment of sectional difficulties. " I still hope the storm 
will blow over," he wrote George Wharton in December, 
1860.^ " Time is a great conservative power," he declared 
three weeks later as secession conventions were assembling 
in the far South, already aflame in revolution. " Let us 
pause at this momentous point and afford the people both 
North and South an opportunity for reflection." * 

There is something almost ludicrous in this, probably, 

^ Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, p. 118 (Jan. 28, Mess, on Va. 
Peace Resolutions). 
^ Ibid., pp. 7-43 (4th An. Mess.), 66, v. xii, pp. 45-116, etc. 

• Ibid., p. 66, Dec. i6th. 

* Ibid., p. 97, Sp. Mess, to Cong., Jan. 8, 1861. 

97 



^8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

to the headstrong man of action. Buchanan was in truth 
not a headstrong man of action, but a passive lover of peace, 
who sought for and respected constitutional rights and au- 
thority/ 

" The worst feature in the aspect of affairs," he stated 
in commenting on the Southern states, " is that they are 
rapidly losing their respect and attachment for the Consti- 
tution." ' 

In the national situation party politics and legal sub- 
tleties confused at that time the thinking of men whose 
mental processes were usually clear. The problem of pre- 
serving the Union was difficult; and of preserving it with- 
out bloodshed and lawlessness, well-nigh impossible. Bu- 
chanan sought consistently to perform the latter task. 
He believed that the coercion of a state by the Federal gov- 
ernment would be not only bad politics but a procedure 
totally unsupported by the public law of the nation.^ He 
believed with equal firmness that constitutionally it was 
his duty to enforce the laws of the Union and to resist by 
force if necessary any efforts to seize Federal property;* 
but he realized that the performance in seceded states of 
such a duty then would be politically inexpedient and prob- 
ably disastrous to the cause of peace. ° The President ex- 

^ Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, pp. 7-43 (4th Annual Message) ; 
pp. 44-48 (G. T. Curtis's letter) ; pp. 116-117 (Message on Va. Peace 
Resolutions, Jan. 28) ; pp. 152-154 (Message on Troops in Washing- 
ton) ; V. xii. " Mr. Buchanan's Administration," by Mr. Buchanan, 
pp. 1-210. 

^ Ibid., p. (^, to Geo. Wharton, Dec. i6th, marked " private and con- 
fidential ". 

* Ibid., pp. 18-19, 60 (to Gen. Cass, Dec. 15th). 

* Ibid., p. 'J2 (letter to Gov. Pickens, Dec. 20) ; p. 96 (Sp. Mess., Jan. 
8) ; pp. 109-111 (Memorandum of a Conversation, Jan. 16) ; p. 118 
(Mess., Jan. 18). 

^ Ibid., pp. 96-99, III, 118. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE 99 

pressed the opinion early in January that the situation had 
assumed " such vast and alarming proportions " as to be 
" above and beyond executive control. . . . 

" The fact cannot be disguised," he said, " that we are in 
the midst of a great revolution." ^ The theories of the ad- 
ministration were put to immediate test in the retention of 
Federal property south. 

The peculiar situation in Pensacola and Charleston har- 
bors during December and January, 1860-61, attracted 
public attention sharply and persistently to these two 
hitherto inconspicuous points. Any determined attempt by 
the Federal government to reinforce its garrison at either 
place threatened to precipitate civil war. In even the reten- 
tion of the forts by the Union some leaders professed to 
see the certainty of a popular civil war; yet to give them up 
supinely would involve the recognition of demands made 
by the secessionists. President Buchanan was confronted 
with the problem of curbing a vast revolution with a few 
thousand scattered regulars, or of certainly exciting a vaster 
revolution by calling for volunteers.^ Honest man, experi- 
enced diplomat, and old statesman that he was, the Presi- 
dent was not equal to the task of preserving both peace 
and the Union. He sought to shift the responsibility to 
Congress.^ " It is for Congress to decide the question," he 
said,* and Congress in session at the time took a less posi- 
tive position than the President — although some of its 

1 Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, p. 96. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 36th C, 2nd S., No. 26, pp. 8-12. See also Works of 
Buchanan, v. xi, pp. 51-52, 279-293 (Reply to Scott) ; v. xii, pp. 84-91 
(Buchanan's defense). 

^ Ibid., pp. 17, 18 (Mess., Dec. 3) ; 79 (Dec. 31) ; 117-118 (Jan. 28), 
etc. 

* Ibid., p. 72 (letter to Gov. Pickens, Dec. 20). 



lOO RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

members at a later date bitterly condemned him/ In re- 
gard to Florida, Buchanan decided to reinforce Pickens and 
then changed his mind. He awaited peace by compromise 
and while such a peace was pending a truce existed on Pen- 
sacola bay. 

The senators from Florida, Mississippi and Alabama 
withdrew from Congress on January 21st." Mr. Mallory 
left two days later for his home in Pensacola.^ Mr. Yulee 
remained for the moment in Washington.* Before this 
withdrawal a sharp change had taken place in the opinions 
of Southern leaders at Washington concerning the situa- 
tion in West Florida. Both Mallory and Yulee while in the 
United States Senate had urged Colonel Chase to take pos- 
session of Pickens regardless of resistance.^ On January 
1 6th, telegrams from both senators went from Washington 
into Florida and Alabama urging that nothing radical be 
done. " No blood must be shed before a Southern Confed- 
eracy is organized," wired Mallory to Governor Perry. 
" Jefferson Davis tells me to say that in the present state of 
affairs the Pensacola forts are not worth one drop of 
blood." ® Similar messages were sent to the governor of 
Alabama and prominent citizens of Pensacola. " Jefferson 
Davis says Fort Pickens is not worth one drop of blood," 
stated each message.^ Reluctantly Florida, Alabama, and 

^ Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, pp. 48-51 (letter of G. T. Cur- 
tis) ; V. xii, pp. 116-141 (Buchanan's Defense); 276-278 (Paper of W. 
U. Hensel). 

* Cong. Globe, 36th C, 2nd S., pp. 480-490. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 13. 

* Ibid., pp. 14, 15. 
^ Ibid., V. I, p. 444. 

*> Ibid., s. i, V. 52. pt. 2, p. 8. 

'' Ibid., pp. 9-10. Messages were sent by Mallory to the following 
citizens of Pensacola : Col. Chase, A. E. Maxwell, R. C. Campbell and 
C. C. Yonge. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE lOl 

Mississippi militia put aside plans for attacking Pickens/ 
Such an attack then would have meant that more than i ,000 
secessionists assault 81 Federal soldiers in an unrepaired 
fort. Thus the formation of the Confederacy involving 
political questions of unusual moment for the South de- 
layed the attack on Fort Pickens, began a long truce in 
West Florida and ultimately saved Pensacola harbor for 
the Union. 

When Mr. Mallory reached Pensacola he continued his 
efforts to delay any attack on Fort Pickens, and he found 
in Colonel Chase a willing fellow advocate of peace. The 
ex-senator assumed charge of the state's interests in West 
Florida. On January 28th, Mr. Yulee, still in Washington, 
telegraphed Mallory and Chase in Pensacola that the war- 
ship Brooklyn was " bound for Pensacola with two com- 
panies aboard ".^ President Buchanan was preparing to 
prevent by force the threatened occupation of the fort by 
state militia.^ Mr. Mallory. upon receipt of this startling 
information, telegraphed three fellow Democrats in Wash- 
ington that no attack would be made on Pickens as long as 
existing conditions were maintained.^ He requested that 
his dispatch be laid before President Buchanan — which was 
done.° 

* Col. Lomax was disappointed that he and his men were not given 
an opportunity to occupy Pickens. He considered his expedition a 
failure. See Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 11. Oilman in 
Battles and Leaders, v. i, pp. 29-30, gives impression that attack was 
planned by state forces. 

* Oir. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 15. The troops were two com- 
panies of 1st Artill. led by Capt. Vogdes. 

' Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, pp. 13 (Buchanan to Tyler, Jan. 
25) ; 256 (Buchanan to Stanton). 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 354. Senators Slidell and Hunter and 
Gov. Bigler. 

' Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, pp. 285-286. Off. Reds. Rebell, 
s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 16. 



I02 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The President the day before had formally refused to 
give any pledge to the representatives of the seceded states;^ 
yet, induced by the hope of avoiding bloodshed, he did in 
the case of Florida substantially what he had done for 
South Carolina ^ — he receded somewhat from his position. 
On January 29th, he directed the Secretary of War and 
the Secretary of the Navy to issue jointly the following 
order to the commander of the Federal forces on shipboard 
ofT Pensacola bay:^ "Upon receiving satisfactory assur- 
ances from Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase that Fort 
Pickens will not be attacked, you are instructed not to land 
the company on board the Brooklyn unless said fort shall 
be attacked or preparations made for the attack." * This 
was the beginning of what has been aptly termed by Nicolay 
and Hay the " Fort Pickens Truce ".^ 

The garrison at Fort Pickens was at the mercy of politi- 
cal circumstances and the opposing state forces across the 
channel. The Federal troops were out-numbered twenty to 
one by the end of January.® The aid to be rendered by the 
Federal warships lying outside in the Gulf could not be 
counted on as very effective. In rough weather the ships 
might be. as much as fifty miles off shore, and even in calm 
weather it was no easy task to land troops through the 
surf while under fire from superior numbers.'^ Lieutenant 

^ Moore, Works of Buchanan, v. xi, p. 118, Mess, on Va. Peace reso- 
lutions, Jan. 28. 

* Ibid., pp. 70-71 (Letter to Gov. Pickens, memorandum of conversa- 
tion). 

^Ibid., V. xii, pp. 195-197. Gen. Scott approved of this order, al- 
though he afterwards sought to deny it. 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. i, p. 355. 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v.' iii, p. 168. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, pp. 354, 358, 455. 'Reports by Mallory 
and Vogdes. 

'' See discussion of question in Gen. Scott's Autobiography, v. ii, p. 
625. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE IO3 

Slemmer's men were hard-worked. " On my arrival I 
found that there was not a single embrasure shutter in the 
Fort," he reported. 

I caused some to be constructed and others to be taken from 
Fort McRee to supply the deficiency. At 12 o'clock at night 
the men were paraded and told off to the different batteries in 
anticipation of an attack. Slow-match lighted and lanyard and 
port fires in hand ready to fire. No signs of an attack — night 
very dark and rainy. We still labored on the 13th strength- 
ening our position, and at night threw out sentinels beyond 
the glacis. Men stood at the guns as on the night previous. 
Night very dark and rainy. On the night of 13th a body of 
some ten men were discovered evidently reconnoitering. A 
shot was fired by them which was returned by the sergeant. 
They then retreated. Nothing more could be seen of the party 
that night. On the 14th nothing of interest transpired. Men 
by this time worn out with labor. ^ 

By the ist of February, 1,500 troops from Florida, 
Mississippi, and Alabama were encamped on Pensacola 
bay. Batteries were being perfected by the state forces. 
Their guns converged on Fort Pickens. Forts McRee and 
Barrancas were undergoing repairs. Their guns converged 
on Pickens less than two miles away. On March 7th, Gen- 
eral Braxton Bragg was placed in command of the " Pro- 
visional Army of the Confederate States," on Pensacola 
bay." General Bragg was a West-Pointer. He had served 
with distinction in the Mexican War, and after his service 
in Mexico had retired from the regular army. In 1861 he 
left his plantation and business in Louisiana to head the 
provisional army of the Confederacy at Pensacola. " I 
know every inch of Pickens." he said to W. H. Russell, an 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 337. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 448; v. 52, pt. 2, p. 24 



I04 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

English war correspondent, " for I happened to be stationed 
there as soon as I left West Point, and I don't think there 
is a stone in it that I am not as well acquainted with as 
Harvey Brown." ^ Colonel Brown was the Federal com- 
mander at Fort Pickens who succeeded Lieutenant Slemmer 
in April." Colonel Chase, who commanded the secessionist 
forces till Bragg arrived, had aided in planning and building 
Pickens many years before.^ 

When Mr. Lincoln came into office, March 4th, he soon 
turned his attention officially to Florida. The new Presi- 
dent considered himself not bound by the pledges of the 
former administration. He intended that Fort Pickens 
should be reinforced at once. On March 5th, and again on 
March nth, he directed the war department to dispatch 
troops to Pickens.* On March ith, the man-of-war Mo- 
hawk steamed out of New York harbor with orders from 
General Scott to Captain Vogdes, ist United States Artil- 
ler}^ directing him to transfer immediately his two com- 
panies from the ship Brooklyn to Pickens.^ The Brooklyn 
was lying off Pensacola harbor. 

And now General Scott, who, up to this time, had coun- 
seled that Fort Pickens be held, began to see things in an- 
other light. The first state dinner given by Lincoln oc- 
curred on the evening of March 28th. The members of 
the cabinet were present, and after dinner, Mr. Lincoln 
called them into an adjoining room for consultation on 
matters of state. There the President informed them with 
evident emotion that General Scott had on that day advised 

* Russell, W. H., My Diary North and South, p. 208. 

» Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. i, p. 365. 

' Gilman in Battles and Leaders, v. i. p. 30. Scharf, J. T., Confed. 
States Navy, p. 603. 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. iii, p. 393. 

* Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. i, p. 360. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE 105 

the evacuation of both Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens. The 
general believed that the evacuation of Sumter alone, then 
under consideration, would not have a decisive effect on the 
border states then wavering between the Union and seces- 
sion. The evacuation of both forts, he thought, would 
soothe and give confidence to the eight slave-holding states 
still in the Union, and would make them loyal to the Fed- 
eral government in the crisis.^ The holding of Forts Jef- 
ferson and Taylor on the islands off the Florida coast de- 
pended, he thought, on an entirely different principle and 
these fortifications, therefore, should not be given up." 

" A long pause of blank amazement followed the presi- 
dent's recital, broken at length by Blair in strong denuncia- 
tion not only of this advice, but of Scott's general course 
regarding Sumter." With his characteristic fervor Mr. 
Blair charged General Scott with transcending his profes- 
sional duties and " playing politician ". Blair's gestures 
and remarks " were understood by those present as being 
aimed specially at Seward, whose peace policy he had with 
his usual impulsiveness freely criticised." ' 

Mr. Lincoln trusted General Scott and no doubt had 
large confidence in his judgment. Scott was an old and 
tried politician, although never a very canny one. He had 
been a national figure when Lincoln was still splitting rails 
in the backwoods of Illionis. Seward had served in high 
public office long and faithfully. He was fully convinced 
of his ability to run the administration, and convinced that 
a policy of non-resistance would serve the Union by allay- 
ing excitement South. The question before the cabinet 
was one which would affect fundamentally the administra- 

' Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. iii, p. 344. 

' See Scott's memorandum to Seddon. Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. i, 
p. 200. 
* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. iii, p. 345. 



Io6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tion's policy and the history of the entire country. The 
native poHtical sagacity of the new President probably sur- 
passed that of any one among his advisors. At any rate 
Lincoln was President with a program of his own. That 
night, after the inharmonious conference at the White 
House, an important decision in the crisis rested directly 
and heavily upon Lincoln. " Only imagination may picture 
the intense and weary vigil "of this crude man called to de- 
cide against worthy advice so momentous a question.^ By 
morning he had definitely decided to hold both forts. He 
never deviated from his decision. 

Orders were issued by the President that the expedi- 
tions already in preparation at the Brooklyn navy-yard, for 
the relief of Pickens and Sumter, should sail as soon as 
possible. That for Pickens was ordered to set out on April 
2nd; that for Sumter, April 6th.- The yard was astir with 
preparation. Rumors circulated abroad concerning the 
destination of the fleets. Some said Sumter; some, Pickens; 
some, the Texas coast; some, the Mississippi river; and 
some persistently asserted that it was Santo Domingo.^ 

Southern sympathizers took notes and sent messages 
South. " A formidalDle armament is preparing at New 
York," wrote one man in Washington to the Confederate 
secretary of war in Montgomery. 

They have 2,600 men ready to start and nearly every available 
ship in the Navy Yard has been ordered to prepare for service 
. . . although it is rumored that the expedition is for Santo 
Domingo to repel Ampudia's invasion. Key West, etc., yet the 
opinion of the best informed men here is that Pensacola is the 
point menaced} 

' Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. iii, p. 394. 
' Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. i, pp. 226, 441. 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. iv, p. 4. 

* Off. Reds. Rebeli, s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 36. (Letter of L. Q. 
Washington, Apr. 6.) 



THB FORT PICKENS TRUCE 



107 



Meanwhile the " truce " continued on Pensacola bay. 
The Confederate war department on March 9th issued a 
call for 5,000 men to defend Pensacola/ The mobilization 
of troops from Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and 
Louisiana, the concentration of supplies and munitions of 
war; the mounting of guns in sand fortifications and at 
Forts Barrancas and McRee; the drilling and instruction of 
the green volunteers; the manufacture of shot and shell in 
the navy-yard shops, — all this went steadily forward regard- 
less of the status quo clause of the Fort Pickens truce.^ 
Colonel Brown, the Federal commander, remarked, as he 
pointed out to a visitor the tall chimneys of the Pensacola 
navy-yard from which rose great columns of black smoke : 
" There is the whole reason for Bragg's forbearance, as it 
is called. Do you see? They are casting shot and shell 
there as fast as they can." ^ The Confederate government 
was wisely utilizing the time allowed in preparing for con- 
flict. Lieutenant Slemmer reported on March 30th that 
" Colonel Chase had stopped the work [the erection of bat- 
teries], but his successors have continued them on the plea 
of being for defensive purposes." * 

During the first fifteen days of April a rapid concentration 
of Confederate troops took place on Pensacola bay. By 
the last day of March the total number of soldiers there 
was 1,1 1 6.° By the end of the second week of April, Gen- 
eral Bragg reported 5,000 men in ranks. ^ " The arrival of 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 135. 

* Mobile Advertiser, Apr. 3, 1861 ; Montgomery Advertiser, Mch. 3, 
1861 ; A^ Y. Herald, Apr. 3, 6, 9, 10, 24, 1861. Russell, op. cit., p. 218. 
Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, pp. 457, 458. (Bragg's report), v. 52, pt. 2, 
pp. 1-150. 

* Russell, op. cit., p. 218. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. i, p. 365. 

** Ibid., p. 455. ' Ibid., p. 461. 



Io8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

SO many troops in our midst looks squally," stated the 
Pensacola Gazette of April 2nd. 

The relief expedition for Pickens was at that hour sail- 
ing from New York. Ten days later Sumter was fired on 
and Pickens reinforced. 

It will be remembered that Mr. Lincoln had ordered 
through General Scott, the general-in-chief of the army, 
that Captain Vogdes's artillerymen be transferred at once 
from the ship Brooklyn to Fort Pickens. The order from 
Scott was issued March 12th, and sent by sea to the fleet 
off Pensacola. There it arrived on March 31st, after delay 
due to storms.^ The order was sent by Scott and not the 
President. Captain Adams, commanding the Brooklyn, 
was acting under orders from the Secretary of the Navy. 
These orders forbade him to land troops unless Fort Pick- 
ens was attacked. He refused to obey the orders of Scott, 
who as an army officer had no authority in the navy. 
" Such a step is too important to be taken without the clear- 
est orders from proper authority," stated Captain Adams 
in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy. " It would be 
viewed as a hostile act and would be resisted to the utmost. 
No one acquainted with the military assembled under Gen- 
eral Bragg can doubt that it would be considered not only 
a declaration, but an act of war." ^ 

Adams was acting in accord with the Fort Pickens truce 
of the Buchanan administration. 

Lincoln, in the meantime, was without news from Flor- 
ida.^ Telegraph and mail service were controlled by the 
secessionists. Expeditions were preparing to sail from 
New York harbor for Charleston and Pensacola. When 

1 Scharf, J. T.. op. cit., p. 605. Letter of Capt. Vogdes. 

* Ihid., pp. 604-605. 

' Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. Iv, p. 7. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE 109 

news should reach the South that the administration in- 
tended suddenly to break the Fort Pickens truce to its own 
advantage, war would quickly follow; and Lincoln had no 
reason to believe that Fort Pickens could withstand a sud- 
den assault by more than ten times its garrison. 

On April 6th, the day that the Fort Pickens relief expe- 
dition sailed and three days before the one for Sumter was 
ordered to set out, a special messenger, from Pensacola, 
reached the navy department. " On being ushered into 
the Secretary's presence while yet dusty and travel-worn he 
unstrapped a belt from his garments and took out an official 
dispatch from the fleet off Pensacola, which by journeying 
day and night he had brought over Southern railroads from 
Florida to Washington." ^ Pickens was not reinforced. 
The relief fleet had sailed for Florida. Should the Confed- 
erate authorities learn that the truce was broken, the Fed- 
eral work on Pensacola bay would be taken by storm. The 
blunder of sending orders for a naval officer from the war 
department was apparent. The problem before the Wash- 
ington government was to get authoritative orders to 
Adams before Bragg should learn of the change in policy. 

" Prompt action was all-important," wrote Secretary 
Welles, 

for the rebellion was rapidly culminating and the hesitancy of 
Captain Adams had caused a delay which had endangered the 
possession of Santa Rosa Island and the safety of Fort 
Pickens. But in the general demoralization and suspicion 
which pervaded Washington, who was to be trusted with this 
important mission? It was then half past three o'clock in the 
afternoon, and the messenger must depart by the mail train 
which left that evening.^ 

* Ibid. See also account of Scharf, op. cit., pp. 604-7. The officer 
was Lieut. Gwatney, of Va., who afterwards resigned to serve the Con- 
federacy. 

^ Diary of Gideon Welles, v. i, p. 30. 



no RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Lieutenant John L. Worden was entrusted by Welles with 
this delicate task which to be effective must be performed 
swiftly. 

Worden was given written instructions from the Presi- 
dent for the immediate landing of troops. He committed 
his instructions to memory, destroyed the original/ and 
taking the first train South (April 7th) arrived in Pensa- 
cola on the morning of the iith.^ There, after a personal 
interview with General Bragg, he obtained from him a 
written passport to go aboard the United States ship 
Sabine lying in the harbor. He stated to Bragg that 
he had no orders from Washington. 

A heavy sea was running, and therefore the Sabine rode 
at anchor until next day, April 12th, when she put out to sea 
and near midday Lieutenant Worden was aboard Captain 
Adams's flagship, the Wyandotte. He delivered his orders 
orally, put them in writing, signed them, and then returned 
to shore. A few hours later, about dark, a telegram came to 
Bragg from the Confederate war department at Mont- 
gomery, as follows : " Lieut. Worden of the U. S. Navy 
has gone to Pensacola with dispatches. Intercept them." * 
Bragg replied by telegraph : 

Mr. Worden had communicated with the fleet before your dis- 
patches received. Alarm guns have just been fired at Fort 
Pickens. I fear the news is received and it will be re-inforced 
before morning. It cannot be prevented. Mr. Worden got 
off in the cars before I knew of his landing. Major Cham- 
bers is in the cars. He will watch Mr. Worden's movements. 
If you deem it advisable, Mr. Worden can be stopped at 
Montgomery. ^ 

1 Diary of Gideon Welles, v. i, p. 30. 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. iv, p. 7; Scharf, op. cit., pp. 606-609. 
' Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. i, p. 462; Scharf, op. cit., p. 607. 

* Ibid., p. 459. 5 ii,id_^ p. 459. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE III 

The following day he telegraphed : "Reinforcements thrown 
into Fort Pickens last night by small boats from the out- 
side." ^ 

Sumter was attacked the day on which Worden delivered 
his dispatch. The Fort Pickens truce was broken. The 
margin of time for the messenger had been narrow. The 
messenger himself was arrested in Montgomery on his re- 
turn journey from Pensacola. " He was among the first, 
if not the very first, prisoners of war captured by the rebels," 
states Welles. Worden was exchanged and became the 
commander of the ironclad Monitor.^ 

General Bragg stated with some feeling that Worden 
had lied to him to obtain his passport and that the re- 
inforcement of Pickens was a violation of the truce 
formally entered upon by Federal government and seceded 
states.^ Bragg's statements were substantially true, but the 
episodes to which he referred were only culminating inci- 
dents in the process of breaking the truce. The Confed- 
erate war department three weeks earlier knew that Lincoln 
had decided to disregard under cover the Buchanan pledges. 
Thereupon the Confederate administration sought to ad- 
just itself to the situation by also secretly disregarding the 
truce. A spy in Washington informed Secretary Walker 
in a letter of March 20th that 

several gentlemen connected with the Government and who 
are in the way of getting reliable intelligence and whom I 
have always found better informed than any one of my ac- 
quaintance, tell me to-day that they have information which 
satisfied them the Government here [Washington] means to 

'^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 460. 

^ Diary of Gideon Welles, v. i, p. 31. Worden commanded the Mon- 
itor in her memorable battle at Hampton Roads with the Merrimac. 
* Off. Reds. Rebell.. s. i, v. i, pp. 461-463. 



112 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

reinforce Fort Pickens. These gentlemen have not confided 
to me their sources of information, but I have the highest con*- 
fidence in their facilities of getting information and I attach 
great weight to what they tell me. Their belief is that the re- 
inforcement will take place soon. I am aware that there is an 
engagement to the contrary on the part of the Government, 
but I do not place any reliance on their promises. They will 
find some excuse for a violation of the stipulation. One of 
the possible steps of this Government may be to direct vessels 
at sea with troops to make the harbor of Pensacola by a given 
night and land men and munitions at Fort Pickens.^ 

General Bragg stated to Secretary Walker a few days later : 

Believing, myself, that the United States Government and 
some of its agents are acting in bad faith toward us, I do not 
hesitate to believe that we are entirely absolved from all ob- 
ligations under the agreement of the 29th of January.^ 

The messages throw light upon the enigmatical tele- 
Montgomery, on April 9th. It ran : " Captain Boggs left 
gram which Bragg received from Secretary Walker at 
this morning to join you. $40,000 are at your disposal 
to be used in the way he suggested to me as coming from 
you. Although he received no instructions on the point, as 
it escaped me in the hurry of departure, you will however 
understand." ^ The commander at Pensacola replied to 
this immediately as follows : " Shall try the use of money 
but great vigilance is exercised. They fear their own 
men." * 

A few days later Lieutenant Slemmer in Fort Pickens 
learned that many letters were passing between the fort and 

^Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 27 (L. Q. Washington, the 
spy). 
^ Ibid., s. i, V. I, pp. 456-457- 
» Ibid., p. 459. * Ibid. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE II3 

the village of Warrenton across the channel. His suspi- 
cions were aroused, and he intercepted and opened the mail. 
One letter was as follows : 

If you will help us along to save bloodshed, I can offer any 
private in the company $500 and any non-commissioned 
officer $1,000 too, with, a guarantee of future promotion 
as high or higher, as he now stands. Every man who will 
take upon themselves to give us the fort without bloodshed 
and save the lives of your garrison will be well paid — all back 
pay, $500 for privates, $1,000 for non-commissioned officers, 
and a commission in the Confederate Army. This Broady I 
offer you from high authority — don't be a damn fool. When 
and where can I see you ? ^ 

On the morning of April 13th, a private, McGarr, of the 
I St Artillery, stated to Lieutenant Slemmer that during the 
night four men crossed the channel and engaged him in 
conversation. They said that they would give any man 
plenty of money if he would only spike the flank defense 
guns. " How are you off for money in the forts? " they 
asked. McGarr claimed that he replied : " We have not 
been paid for six months." Thereupon one of them thrust 
a roll of bills into the sentry's hands and told him : " Give 
that to them." ^ 

These facts speak for themselves and clearly indicate 
the policy and intentions of the Confederate war depart- 
ment before the Worden episode. Duplicity on the part 
of the Lincoln administration induced counter duplicity 
South. ^ Bragg should not have let Worden pass him. 

The delivery of Worden's message from Washington 
caused Captain Adams to send ashore promptly the 200 

1 OfF. Reds. Rebeli, s. i, v. i, p. 388. 
'Ibid., pp. 388-389. 
•■' Ibid., pp. 395-399- 



114 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

artillerymen under Captain Vogdes. Four days later 
(April i6th), the relief expedition from the Brooklyn 
navy-yard arrived. A thousand men were soon in Fort 
Pickens. The crews of the Federal war-ships Sabine, 
Brooklyn, Powhatan, and Wyandotte, raised the total force 
to 2,017 men. The opportunity to take Pickens by storm 
had passed.^ 

Sumter was attacked on April 12th. The Virginia con- 
vention passed its ordinance of secession April 17th. Col- 
onel Brown, the new commander at Fort Pickens, follow- 
ing closely the development of national troubles, sent a 
message of warning to the commander at Fort Jefferson 
on Tortugas keys to prepare for assault* Brown feared 
that the seizure of the Gosport navy-yard in Virginia would 
involve the capture of Federal war-ships there, and that 
the Confederacy would promptly utilize this fleet in South- 
ern waters. General Scott had stated to Brown that " the 
fortresses on the Florida reefs are deemed of greater im- 
portance than even Fort Pickens." ^ Fortunately for the 
Union no ships ready for service were included in the Gos- 
port navy-yard seizure.* 

During these weeks of early spring, a Confederate army 
was in process of mobilization on Pensacola bay. Alabama 
had been the first state to send troops into Florida — early 
in January.^ Then followed militia from Mississippi, 
Louisiana, and Georgia, in the order named. These state 

^ Scharf (op. cit., pp. 606-607) states that " Gen. Bragg was to have 
made an attack upon Pickens the night following that on which the 
fort was reinforced." He does not give his authority for this state- 
ment. 

* Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. i, p. 392. 
» Ibid., p. 366. 

* Rhodes, U. S., v. iii, p. 364. 

^H. Rpts., 36th C, 2nd S., No. 87, p. 55. Jan. nth. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE 



115 



troops were mustered into Confederate service soon after 
the creation by law of the Confederate army. They and 
the Florida levies constituted the " Army of Pensacola ". 
By May ist, this army was more than 5,000 strong/ a 
rather heterogeneous mass of healthy, bearded, optimistic 
and active volunteers from the interior, mostly. 

Their tents dotted the groves and open spaces between 
the navy-yard and Barrancas. At night, their camp fires 
of pine made a band of light along the western edge of the 
harbor's mouth. " The Mississippians are encamped in a 
very pretty location in the pine woods, within a quarter of 
a mile of the bay, and with a fine stream of fresh water 
flowing through the camp," stated a Southern correspond- 
ent. " Their encampment presents a very picturesque as- 
pect and is quite en regie in all its arrangements." " 

The regiments included French-American Creole troops, 
arrayed as zouaves, chasseurs, etc., with gorgeous, easy 
uniforms of Gallic temperament; Black-Belt planter militia 
with plainer clothing and company names fiercely pictures- 
que, as " De Soto Irrepressibles ", " Southern Avengers ", 
" Senatobie Invincibles " ; and lastly, riflemen from the 
piney woods, who were termed " kasions " and " crack- 
ers ", who supplied a tradition at least of sharp-shooting, 
and who expressed themselves as frank haters of the 
"damn- Yankee".' 

This army was being licked into shape by officers who 

* Oif. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. i, p. 461. By the last of April the South- 
ern regiments on Pensacola bay were ist and 2nd Ala. Infy. ; ist and 
2nd Miss. Infy.; 1st Ga. Infy.; ist Fla. Infy., and several battalions 
and unattached companies from La., Miss., Ga., Ala., and Fla. New 
Orleans Delta (Apr. 27), put the total number of troops at 6,708 
(1,826 Mississippians, 1,400 Alabamians, 1,100 Georgians, 1,134 Louis- 
ianians, 620 Floridians, and misc. forces, organized in three divisions). 

* Moore, Retell. Red., v. ii, p. 187. Apr. 27, 1861. 

* See letters in N. Y. Herald, Apr. 7, 9, 1861. 



Il6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

had seen active service in the Mexican War, or in Euro- 
pean wars.^ " The companies were industriously drilled 
upon the deep sand of the shore, almost blinding in its glit- 
tering whiteness, and the men feasted on fish and oysters. 
. . , There was regimental dress parade in the evenings, 
guard mountings in the mornings, and reveille became a 
familiar early morning call to the unwilling ears of the 
drowsy soldiers." ^ 

A portion of the supplies for this army came at first by 
boat into Pensacola bay, and later by wagon across coun- 
try, from Blakely, Alabama, or by wagon along a shorter 
route from Perdido bay.^ Hospital facilities were excel- 
lent. The well-equipped Federal marine hospital was util- 
ized. After the first few weeks of camp life the raw re- 
cruit was apt to sicken. Catholic sisters of charity did 
good work in nursing the sick. The death-rate was low. 
Eggs, vegetables, poultry, butter, and milk for the conval- 
escent came in sufficient quantities from the neighboring 
country.* 

Highly-colored reports of disorder, of insubordination, 
and of drunkenness in the Confederate camp were spread 
abroad by the enterprising Northern press and nearby 
Union soldiers in letters home.** Liquor was consumed in 
some quantities, and toughs might have enlivened life until 

' Russell, Diary; Confed. Mil. Hist., passim. 

* McFarland, B., "A Forgotten Expedition," Miss. Hist. Soc, v. ix, 
p. 20. Judge McFarland was with his regiment from Mississippi on 
Pensacola bay. 

* Pensacola Observer, Aug. 8, 1861. Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 52, pt. 
2, pp. II, 44-45. 

* A''. Y. Herald, Aug. 31, 1861, letter of Gen. Bragg. 

* For instance, N. Y. Herald, Apr. 10, May 6, May 13, Nov. 26, 1861. 
Moore, Rebell Red., v. iii, p. 70. Two men executed for insubordina- 
tion and murder. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE II7 

restrained — which was soon. For a short time there seems 
to have been practiced an indiscriminate firing of guns by 
those off duty. These violators of military regulations 
were " practicing for the damn-Yankees ". They claimed 
that they were accustomed to such " target practice at 
home ". In October, peremptory orders forbade target- 
practice and patrols gathered up offenders.^ At the same 
time an order was issued by General Bragg restricting the 
number of camp servants. The slave-holding planter-sol- 
dier found it difficult at first to get on without his black 
body-servant. One man on Pensacola bay is reported by 
the Nezv York Herald to have summed-up the situation 
thus : " The very thing we are fighting for is the privilege 
of doing what we please with our niggers, and if we are 
denied that right here at home we are deprived of one of 
the strongest inducements to fight." ^ 

Some observers have left more favorable estimates of 
the Southern volunteers composing the Army of Pensa- 
cola. " I do not believe that a better and more efficient 
body of fighting men could be assembled in any part of the 
world," stated the enthusiastic correspondent of the Nezu 
Orleans Delta. " They compose the very best class of our 
Southern people — ardent, earnest, and resolute young men. 
They can never be conquered or even defeated; they may 
be destroyed or annihilated." ^ 

An English newspaper correspondent has left in his diary 
a description of the Confederate and Federal fortifications 
and forces facing each other at this time on Pensacola bay. 
He spent two days there in May, and was allowed by the 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. i, p. 751. See reference to discipline in 
Long, Florida Breezes, p. 2)2)2- 

* A^. Y. Herald, Nov. 26, 1861. 

* Moore, Rebell. Red., v. ii, p. 187. 



Il8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

commanders of each army great freedom in examining 
camps and forts. He writes : 

As we got abreast of Fort Pickens, I ordered table-cloth No. i 
to be hoisted to the peak, and through the glass I saw that 
our appearance attracted no ordinary attention from the gar- 
rison of Pickens, close at hand on our right, and the more 
distant Confederates at Fort McRee and the sand hills on 
the left. The latter fort (McRee) is weak and badly built, 
quite under the command of Pickens, but is supported by the 
old Spanish fort of Barrancas upon high ground further in- 
land, and by numerous batteries at the water-line. . . . The 
wind was light but the tide bore us toward the Confederate 
works. Arms glanced in the blazing sun where regiments 
were engaged in drill ; clouds of dust rose from the sandy 
roads ; horsemen riding along the beach ; groups of men in 
uniform gave a martial appearance to the place in unison with 
the black muzzles of the guns which peeped from the white 
sand batteries from the entrance of the harbor to the Navy 
Yard, now close at hand. ... At last the Captain let go his 
anchor off the end of a wooden jetty which was crowded with 
ammunition, shot, shell, cases of provisions, and commissary 
stores. . . . The Navy Yard is surrounded by a high wall, 
the gates closely guarded by sentries. . . . Inside there was 
the greatest activity and life — Zouaves, Chasseurs, and all 
kinds of military eccentricities were drilling, parading, exer- 
cising, sitting in the shade, loading tumbrills, playing cards, or 
sleeping on the grass. Tents were pitched under the trees and 
on the little lawns and grass-covered quadrangles. . . . From 
the naval arsenal quantities of shot and shell are constantly 
pouring to the batteries. Piles of cannon balls dot the ground, 
but the only ordnance I saw were two old mortars placed as 
ornaments in the avenue, one dated 1776. 

The Quartermaster conducted me through shady walks 
into one of the houses, then into a long room, and presented 
me, en masse, to a body of officers, mostly belonging to a 
Zouave regiment, from New Orleans, who were seated at a 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE 



119 



very comfortable dinner, with an abundance of champagne, 
claret, beer, and ice. They were all young and full of life, 
and spirits, except three or four grave and older men who 
were Europeans. One, a Dane, had fought against the Prus- 
sians and Schleswig-Holsteiners, at Idstadt, and Fredrick- 
stadt; and another, an Italian, seemed to have engaged indif- 
ferently in fighting all over the South American continent ; a 
third, a Pole, had been at Comoru, and had participated in the 
Revolution of 1848. From these officers I learned that Mr. 
Jefferson Davis, his wife, Mr. Wigfall, and Mr. Mallory, Sec- 
retary of the Navy, had come down from Montgomery and 
had been visiting the works all day. Everyone here believes 
the attack so long threatened is to come off at last and at once. 

. . . (The next day.) From headquarters we started on 
our tour of inspection of the batteries. Certainly anything 
more calculated to shake the confidence in American journal- 
ism could not be seen, for I had been led to believe that the 
works were of the most formidable description, mounting 
hundreds of guns. Where hundreds were written, tens would 
have been nearer the truth. I visited ten out of the thirteen 
batteries which General Bragg had erected against Fort 
Pickens. I saw but 5 heavy siege guns in the whole of the 
works among the 50 or 55 pieces with which they were armed. 
There might be about 80 altogether on the lines which de- 
scribe an arc of 135 degrees for about three miles around 
Pickens, at an average distance of one and one-third miles. 

. . . The working parties as they were called — volunteers 
from Mississippi and Alabama, great long-bearded fellows in 
flannel shirts and slouched hats, uniformless in all savd 
brightly burnished arms and resolute purpose — were lying 
about among the works. 

Altogether, I was quite satisfied that General Bragg was 
perfectly correct in refusing to open fire on Fort Pickens and 
on the fleet, which ought certainly to have wrecked his work 
about his ears. 

I had heard during my sojourn in the North, that the South- 
ern people were exceedingly illiterate and ignorant. It may 



I20 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

be so, but I am bound to say that I observed a large propor- 
tion of the soldiers on their way to the Navy Yard engaged in 
reading newspapers, though they did not neglect the various 
drinking bars and exchanges, which were only too numerous 
in the vicinity of the camps/ 

From the Confederate encampment on the mainland, Mr. 
Russell crossed to Fort Pickens (on Santa Rosa Island), 
and there he was allowed to inspect troops and fortifica- 
tions. " The outer gate was closed," he writes, 

but at a talismanic knock from Captain Barry we passed 
through a vaulted gallery into the parade ground, which was 
full of men engaged in strengthening the place and digging 
deep pits in the center as shell-traps. The men were United 
States regulars, and not comparable in physique to the South- 
ern volunteers, but infinitely superior in cleanliness and sol- 
dierly smartness. 

Fort Pickens is an oblique and somewhat narrow parallelo- 
gram. The gtms were what is considered small calibre in 
these days — 32 and 42 pounders, with 4 or 5 heavy columbiads. 
An immense amount of work has been done within the last 
three weeks, but as yet the preparations are by no means com- 
plete. 

On the whole, I should prefer to be inside than outside 
Pickens, in case of bombardment, and there can be no doubt 
that the entire destruction of the Navy Yard and station by 
the Federals can be accomplished whenever they please." 

This estimate of Federal superiority was not the popular 
one in the vicinity. People traveled long distances to Pen- 
sacola " to watch the fun " — as on a holiday. " 140 guns 
converging on any one point for 60 hours would drive the 
Devil from his hole," stated the Mobile Advertiser, in com- 
menting on the situation, May 12th. 

1 Russell, op. cit. => Russell, op. cit. 



THE FORT PICKENS TRUCE 12 1 

Although the battle between the forts was expected daily, 
General Bragg is credited by Russell with the statement on 
May 14th that he had no intention of attacking Pickens. 
Subsequent history bears out the truth of this assertion. 
The fort, however, continued to be a cause of concern for 
many months. Mr. John Jacob Astor, of New York, as 
chairman of a " Citizens' Committee " for the purchase of 
arms and ammunition, advised Secretary of War Cameron 
to forward more arms and ammunition at once to Pickens. 
The Secretary replied that the war department could attend 
to its own affairs.^ 

Spring passed and the terrific heat of a far-southern 
summer enveloped the Florida coast. The conflict had 
begun in earnest elsewhere, but on Pensacola bay there was 
no firing. Sickness increased in Federal ranks. In June 
(24th) the transport Vanderbilt arrived with the first vol- 
unteers for the Federal force on Santa Rosa island. The 
troops were the 6th New York Zouave Infantry. They 
were commanded by Colonel " Billy " Wilson, bald-headed, 
sharp-eyed, self-assertive, and generally vigorous, with a 
heavy black mustache and a cigar usually stuck at an up- 
turned angle in the corner of his mouth. His command be- 
came known as the " Pet Lambs ". They were reputed to 
be in large part toughs and touts recruited from the east 
side of New York City. They were more given at first to 
fighting among themselves than fighting the enemy.^ 

By midsummer the blockade had effectually stopped all 
shipping from Pensacola and other Florida ports.^ Many 
of the white inhabitants of Pensacola had moved into the 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. i, p. 414. 

* N. V. Herald, July 26, Aug. 17, 1861. N. Y. Times, Jan. 28, 1862. 
' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. i, pp. 409, 413. A^. Y. Herald, May 27, 
June 23, 1861. Naval Records, s. i, v. 6, p. go. 



122 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

interior, taking their slaves with them/ The majority of 
the younger men were in the Confederate army. The 
hamlets of Woolsey and Warrenton near the navy-yard 
were likewise deserted.^ 

Summer gave way to autumn, and still no combat had 
taken place in West Florida. The " Sebastopol of Amer- 
ica " ^ was almost as quiet as a country grave-yard. Tropi- 
cal storms, with thunder and lightning and rain, occasion- 
ally swept over the crouching armies, and the up-country 
recruit became sick of fish and hardened to the sad mono- 
tone of the Gulf surf. The tide of conflict had drifted far 
North. 

But the mobilization of troops on Pensacola bay was not 
devoid of effect, probably important effect. " It was re- 
garded at the time as of significant importance, aroused 
great interest and enthusiasm, and was the subject of wide 
and excited comment at home and abroad," writes a vet- 
eran who entered upon the War in the Army of Pensacola.* 

It strengthened the determination and increased the confidence 
of the people all over the South, and was everywhere regarded 
as a test of the spirit, devotion and purpose of her people. 
It was the first aggressive movement in which the Southern 
States acted in concert, and dispelled all doubt as to their 
future co-operation. The moral effect greatly exceeded in 
value and importance all other resulting physical advantages. 

' A^. Y. Herald, Apr. 6, Sep. 30, 1861. 
» N. Y. Herald, Apr. 6, 1861. 

' A''. Y. World, Apr. 6, 1861. This term was frequently employed by 
the journals in referring to Pensacola bay. 

* McFarland, B., Miss. Hist. Soc., v. ix, pp. 21-23. 



BOOK II 
THE CIVIL WAR 

"What is all this for? Why this array of armies? Why this fierce 
meeting in mortal combat? What is all this carnage and slaughter for? 
Why the prolongation of this conflict? Why this lamentation and 
mourning going up from almost every house and family from Maine 
to the Rio Grande, and from the Atlantic and Gulf to the Lakes, for 
friends and dear ones who have fallen by disease and violence in this 
unparalleled struggle? The question if replied to by the North can 
have but one answer." — Alexander H. Stephens, 1863, Mess, and 
Papers of the Confed., v. i, p. 175. 



CHAPTER VI 
The Beginning of Hostilities in Florida 

Across the channel from Pickens the batteries of the 
Confederate army stretched in a majestic curve for more 
than two miles/ The western rim of the lower bay sparkled 
at night with the myriad lights of camp fires. The rank and 
file of both armies awaited with grim impatience the open- 
ing of hostilities. " In our camp there is an unusual degree 
of excitement," wrote a Union correspondent from the B'ed- 
eral encampment on Santa Rosa island. " Although we 
could not take a very active part while the bombardment 
lasted, yet we longed for the fray to commence." - 

Near the navy-yard was anchored the huge " million dol- 
lar dry dock ". It had been acquired by the secessionists on 
the surrender of the yard. The first offensive movement of 
the Federal military was directed against this very valuable 
piece of property. It lay with an insufficient guard under 
the guns of both Pickens and the Confederate batteries. 
Preparations were completed on September ist for its de- 
struction, but the " night came cloudless ", records a Federal 
soldier — 

the heavens lit up by a host of stars looked beautiful beyond 
description. The shore opposite was plainly visible and the 
entire enterprise seemed too hazardous, as in the planning of 
it a darker night had been looked for. Upon consultation it 
was thought best to wait till the following night [September 

» Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6. 

» Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, p. 117. 

125 



126 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

2nd]. All day Monday a strong wind blew from off the Gulf; 
rain was expected but none fell. Night came and the sky was 
cloudy. A few minutes after " tattoo " Lieut. Shipley left 
the beach in front of the fort in a boat with eleven picked 
men, rowing noiselessly for the dry dock.^ 

They clambered aboard and found no one there to op- 
pose them. Combustibles and inflammable material were 
put into the hold of the dock; the torch was applied; and 
the boat's crew withdrew. " As the first streak of flame 
mounted upward the long roll sounded at the navy-yard, 
the soldiers stationed there turned out in haste, and every- 
thing was wild confusion — but not a shot was fired ", stated 
a recording witness on Santa Rosa island. " Meanwhile the 
whole sky was illumined by the tall spires of flame which 
sprang upward from the burning dock." ^ This stroke 
under Confederate guns was soon followed by a bolder one. 

At three-thirty o'clock on the morning of September 
14th, three launches from the Federal warship Colorado 
succeeded in reaching, undetected, the side of the armed 
Confederate schooner Judah, which was moored at the 
docks under the guns of the navy-yard batteries.' The at- 
tacking party was almost aboard before discovered. A 
savage hand-to-hand fight with the Confederate crew gave 
them possession of the craft. The rumble of the long roll 
soon awoke the Confederate encampment, but those on 
shore could not distinguish friend from foe on the dark and 
smoking deck of the Judah. The ship was set afire, and 
while the Southern drums were beating lustily the Federal 
blue- jackets quickly withdrew in their cutters to the pro- 
tecting gloom of the Gulf beyond the circle of light made by 

* Moore, Retell. Red., v. 3, p. 117. 

^ Ibid., V. 3, pp. 117-118 and 77. 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 16, p. 671. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA i2y 

the blazing ship. They left behind three of their number 
dead and fourteen wounded. The Judah burned to the 
water's edge.^ The first blood of the war in Florida had 
been shed in savage fashion. 

These daring efforts provoked reprisal. General Bragg 
was determined to pay back in kind. On the eighth of 
October preparations were completed for a night attack on 
the Federal encampment in the rear of Fort Pickens on 
Santa Rosa island." Part of the troops destined for this 
work were moved by water from the navy-yard to Pensa- 
cola on the steamer Time. Darkness veiled the man- 
oeuver from those on Santa Rosa island. As the craft passed 
up the bay toward the town, Brigadier-General Richard 
H. Anderson, in command, issued final orders for the divi- 
sion of the troops into three battalions. The first, 350 
strong, was composed of the 9th Mississippi Infantry, loth 
Mississippi Infantry, and the ist Alabama Infantry; the 
second, 400 strong, of detachments from the 7th Alabama 
Infantry, the ist Florida Infantry, and two independent 
companies of Infantry from Louisiana; the third, 200 
strong, of the 3rd and 5th independent Georgia Battalions. 
In addition, a company of 53 picked men was taken to spike 
cannon and set fire to the Federal camp. The whole com- 
mand numbered about 1,090 men.^ 

Shortly after ten o'clock in the evening these troops al- 
ready collected in Pensacola, were transferred to barges 
and to the small bay steamers Ewing and Neaffle. 
With lights out the flotilla moved across the bay to Santa 
Rosa island. Some time after midnight a landing was 
made on the beach at a point more than four miles east of 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 6, p. 437. Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 16, 
pp. 670-674. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 460. 

' Ibid. 



128 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Fort Pickens/ Between the Confederate force and the 
fort lay the sleeping Federal camp. Rumor had gotten 
abroad there and at Pickens early in the evening that the 
enemy had landed on the island. As the night progressed 
in peace the rumor was discredited and apparently for- 
gotten.^ 

The attacking expedition formed in three columns. One 
took the south or Gulf side of the island; one, the center; 
and the third, the north or Bay side." Santa Rosa island 
varies in width from 250 yards to more than half a mile. 
The men of the central column struggled in the darkness 
over the shifting sand and through snake-haunted pal- 
metto jungles.* " I had rather attempt to scale the rugged- 
est peak of the Rocky Mountains than to make a forced 
march on Santa Rosa island," stated one man. " It is im- 
possible for the best-trained troops in the world to keep in 
line in such a place." The monotone of the Gulf surf dulled 
the noise of the advancing columns. Occasionally someone, 
pricked by cactus or sand spur, believed for a moment that 
he had been bitten by a rattle snake and expressed his belief 
aloud. " Jump, pardner, jump, Good God, there's a rattler 
big enough to swallow yer foot! Don't you see him?" 
" Silence in ranks. Close up, boys," was the response from 
the company officers. 

They passed the dunes which rose up like pale, strange 
mountains in the darkness. They passed beneath the 

' Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, pp. 83, go, 91. The accounts coincide in 
saying " about 2 o'clock ". 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 439. Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3. pp. 
83, 90. Reports of Col. Brown and the testimony of negroes. " Hav- 
ing little confidence in the correctness of the report I directed that no 
alarm should be given," stated Col. Brown. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 460-61. 

* See accounts in Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, pp. 90-93. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 



129 



dwarfed and gnarled pines, that facing for a century the 
winds of the sea, made even on a moonless night grotes- 
quely beautiful silhouettes against the sky. They passed 
silently within the confines of the sleeping Federal camp — 
and at half past three, about three miles east of Pickens, 
the first pickets were encountered. " The night was dark 
and lowering so that a man could scarcely be distinguished 
twenty yards ahead," stated a Federal officer in the camp. 
" Not a sound was heard save the regular tramp of the pick- 
ets and the voice of command as it rang through the silent 
night air. The Zouaves little imagined so incensed and 
blood-thirsty a foe was so near them and panting for their 
blood." ^ The luckless sentinels were promptly shot down," 
and the Southern columns, moving swiftly through the 
darkness and over the stricken outposts, burst into the camp 
of the 6th New York Zouaves with the cry " Death to Wil- 
son ! No quarter to Wilson's Zouaves ! " — or such was the 
cry that the frightened Zouave Colonel thought he heard.* 
The firing was an abrupt alarm. Colonel Wilson at- 
tempted to rouse his men, several hundred strong, to with- 
stand the attack. The sound of " heavy musketry " ac- 
companied by the patting of bullets came from the direction 
of the field hospital. A lieutenant rushed up to the colonel 
and reported 2,000 men advancing in two columns.* A 
warning was immediately sent to Colonel Brown in Fort 
Pickens. Hardly had the message departed when volleys 
were poured into the half-fomied 6th New York from both 

1 Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, p. 87. Capt. Norman's (6th N. Y.) state- 
ment. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 6, p. 461. Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, pp. 
87-98, statements of Capt. Norman. 6th N. Y., and Lieut. D'Orville, 
6th N. Y. 

» Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, p. 86. Off. Rpt. of Col. Wilson. 
* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 446. 



130 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

flanks and the front. " We were fired into from three 
sides," stated Wilson/ The Zouaves wavered and then 
fled without heavy loss to the protection of batteries Totten 
and Lincoln, in the rear of Pickens. The camp burst into 
flames ere its occupants reached the protection of the Bat- 
teries.^ " My men did well," boasted the Zouave Colonel 
a few days later. " They have smelt gunpowder ; now they 
are all right. The enemy lost in killed and wounded 500 
men," ' he affirmed. Yet one of the enemy who survived re- 
ported that " the gallant Colonel took to his heels with noth- 
ing but a brief skirted nether garment to cover his naked- 
ness, and the race between him and his valiant braves pre- 
sented a struggle for precedence more closely contested than 
any ever witnessed on the race course. Bull's Run was 
nothing in comparison to it." * 

The burning camp was rifled of available property by 
the more thrifty Southerners.^ " One man got $340 in 
cash," stated a Southern volunteer. " Another took the 
Zouave Major's hat; others took coats, hats, caps, swords, 
a fine pair of navy pistols — one man captured a fine Ger- 
man silver horn." " Every one in Pensacola has my sword 
and uniform," reported Colonel Wilson a few days later. "I 
must have had a large quantity of hair, plenty of swords, 
and uniforms. They say if I was to be taken alive, I would 
be put in a cage and exhibited." * 

Soon after the outbreak of the general firing, " the light 
of the burning camp" being seen at Pickens, Colonel Brown 

^ Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, p. 86. 

» Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 446. 

' Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3. Wilson's Report, passim. 

< Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, p. 91. 

' Ibid., pp. 83-93. Southern and Northern testimony. 

* Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, pp. 86, 91, 92. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 131 

ordered Major Vogdes to move forward with two compan- 
ies of regular troops/ Vogdes and command were flanked 
by the Confederates and after a sharp fight the regulars re- 
treated to the batteries, leaving behind eleven killed and 
wounded, and their commander, Vogdes, in the hands of 
the enemy.^ And now the good sense or good fortune of 
the Southern troops deserted them. Two Confederate de- 
tachments fired upon each other and several companies be- 
came disorganized in looting the Federal camp.^ One re- 
port from a Southern source states that the " wildest dis- 
order reigned ".* The Federal regulars and Zouaves came 
back cautiously into the conflict with their long-range En- 
field rifles. In their rear was the stimulating refuge of 
heavily-entrenched and walled batteries. 

The approach of daylight decided General Anderson to 
withdraw his force from the island. ° The Confederate 
troops began at the break of day to march back to the boats, 
leaving behind the smoldering Federal camp and a small 
detachment at the field hospital. Federal troops followed at 
a safe distance, promptly capturing the hospital corps and 
cutting oflf some stragglers. The Confederates suffered 
serious reverses in embarkation. The propeller chain of the 
steamer Ewing became entangled in a cable. The steamer 
drifted about helplessly for some time with her crowded 
barges in tow. The Federal soldiers quickly took advan- 
tage of the situation with their Enfield rifles. From behind 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 439, 448. Col. Brown also called 
upon the warship Potomac to move east and join in the engagement. 
She arrived too late. 

* Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 3, p. 85. Report of Col. Browa 
'Ibid., pp. 91-92. 

* Ibid., p. 92. From Letter to Atlanta Intelligeneer. 
^Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 461. 



132 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

sand dunes they opened an effective fire upon the exposed 
Southern troops/ " Their large Enfield rifles carry a ball 
a great distance," stated a Southern correspondent with the 
expedition — " and elevate my musket as I would the bullet 
fell short of the beach, while their balls fell among us or 
passed just over our heads." ^ 

The outcome of this night conflict on Santa Rosa island 
had been a questionable success from the Confederate stand- 
point. The camp of the 6th New York was destroyed ; some 
cannon were spiked ; both Federal regulars and volunteers 
were driven into the entrenchments ; and fourteen of the 
enemy were killed, twenty-nine wounded, and twenty-four 
captured and missing.^ But the Confederate loss was seven- 
teen killed, thirty-seven wounded, and thirty captured or 
missing.* In the actual fighting, the Federal troops were 
heavily outnumbered — probably two to one, but they had 
the advantage of weapons and position. All Federal troops 
on Santa Rosa island would have more than equalled the 
number of the attacking force. The Confederate attack 
was well planned and remarkably well executed through the 
repulse of Vogdes' regulars. The green Southern troops 
were not steady in the excitement of partial victory, stopped 
to plunder, and failed to follow up their earlier advantages, 
as they might have, to the very walls of Pickens — one mile 
distant. 

Both sides claimed victory. General Lorenzo Thomas, Ad- 

* Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 6, pp. 440, 462. 

* Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 3, p. 92. 

* Off. Reds. Rehell.. s. i, v. 6, p. 442. Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 3, pp. 
85-86. Report of Colonel Brown. 

* Off. Reds. Rehell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 458, 459, 462. Bragg stated that 
eleven of the dead bodies recovered had a bullet wound in the head and 
each a fatal wound in the body which led him to the conclusion that 
they had been murdered on the field. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 



133 



jutant-General of McClellan's army, stated in his congratu- 
latory announcement : " On the night of October 9th an at- 
tempt was made by a large body of rebels to burn the camp 
of Wilson's Zouaves, spike the guns of the outer batteries, 
and take Fort Pickens by assault. The enemy was signally 
repulsed from Santa Rosa Island with heavy loss on their 
side, after firing a few of our tents." ^ Colonel Wilson, of 
the Zouaves, reported, '' We have had our first fight. It was 
a terrible one for the enemy," yet further on in the same re- 
port he states : " Our new clothes are all destroyed. I have 
lost everything I had; my men also. They burned us out 
completely. Our papers and books are burned. My com- 
mission is safe. I sent it to the post office before the fight."^ 

On the other hand, General Bragg announced : " We chas- 
tised the enemy on Santa Rosa Island last night for his an- 
noyances, drove him from his camp, burned his tents, spiked 
some of his guns, and retired in good order. Our loss was 
30 or 40 killed or wounded." ^ One member of the expedi- 
tion stated, 'T scarcely know whether we achieved a victory 
or suffered a defeat. Night skirmishing is a dangerous busi- 
ness — especially in an unknown country, as is the island of 
Santa Rosa." * 

Fort Pickens was beleagured by Confederate forces nine 
months before the long-expected artillery battle occurred. 
The press North and South generally consigned Pickens to 
the fate of Sumter. Since February the Confederate troops 
had been engaged in erecting and improving a powerful 
line of batteries on the mainland opposite Pickens. These 
works stretched along the coast in a great crescent for more 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 6, p. 457. 

* Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 3, p. 86. 

* Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, p. 458. 

* Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 3, p. 92. 



134 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

than two miles with Fort McRee at one horn of the crescent, 
the navy-yard at the other horn, and Fort Barrancas be- 
tween. The Confederate armament included probably fifty 
effective pieces of rather light artillery and twenty ten-inch 
G^lumbiads.^ 

The Federal stronghold opposite was a more powerful 
work than the combined batteries on the mainland. The 
armament of Pickens by November, 1861, consisted of seven 
separate batteries mounting thirty-five heavy guns — twelve 
of them being eight- and ten-inch Columbiads. In addition 
were five batteries near the fort mounting twenty-two pieces, 
including four ten-inch Columbiads, two forty-two pound- 
ers, eight ten-inch sea-coast mortars, one twelve-inch mor- 
tar, and one thirteen-inch mortar. 

On the morning of November 22nd, at ten o'clock, the 
batteries of Fort Pickens suddenly opened fire. The first 
shots were directed against two Confederate steamers lying 
at the navy-yard wharf.^ Both boats escaped with slight 
injury, and soon the Confederate batteries all along the 
line were engaged in the artillery duel. The Federal men- 
of-war Richmond and Niagara moved nearer the shore and 
opened fire.^ Their attack was directed mainly against 
Fort McRee. The big guns of Pickens soon played havoc 
with this fortification. Three times during the afternoon 
the fort was afire. This threatened to expel the garrison. 
The magazines were laid bare to the Federal shells which 
constantly exploded near them. A burning building to the 
left of the fort sent showers of cinders and sparks through 
the open magazine.* The flag staffs of both McRee and 

1 Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, p. 443; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 27, 1861. 
* Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, pp. 473, 477. 
» Ibid., pp. 469, 490. Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 16, pp. 775-781. 
*• Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, p. 490. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 133 

Barrancas were shot away/ The men-of-war circling east 
and west like hawks poured into the devoted Confederate 
fort tremendous broadsides. 

The Confederate gunners worked desperately and not 
entirely without effect on the ships. A seaman on board the 
Richmond wrote home, 

I had been complimenting the captain of one of our guns for 
the accuracy of his aim when a shell from Fort McRee 
bounded through our bulwarks and took the poor fellow's 
head square off. His brains and blood were scattered all over 
my face, blinding my eyes and making my brain reel. We had 
thirteen men serving that gun. Of these six were wounded 
and one killed outright.^ 

The loss in Fort Pickens during the first day's bombard- 
ment was insignificant — one killed, six wounded, and no 
fires. ^ 

Darkness closed the first day's duel. For more than eight 
hours the roar of artillery had been almost continuous. It 
was a magnificent and spectacular waste of ammunition. 
" It was grand and sublime," wrote Gen. Bragg. " The 
houses in Pensacola, ten miles off, trembled from the effect ; 
and immense quantities of dead fish floated on the surface 
of the lagoon, stunned by the concussion." ^ 

Wind and rain came with the darkness. The Confederate 
loss was one killed by a shell, twenty-one wounded, and six 
smothered to death by the caving-in of a magazine.' The 
abandonment of McRee was seriously discussed during the 

1 Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, p. 475. 

' N. Y. Times, Dec. 12, 1861. Compare account in Naval War Reds., 
s. i, V. 16, pp. 777-9. 

» Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, p. 475. 

* Ihid., p. 490. 

' Bragg's Report, Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 16, pp. 783, 784. 



136 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

night. Half of its armament was disabled and its maga- 
zines exposed to fire. " Upon reflection as to the effect this 
would have on the morale of my troops," stated General 
Bragg. " I determined to hold it to the last extremity." ^ In 
the midst of a midnight gale, accompanied by thunder and 
lightning, efforts were made to put the work in repair.^ 

The next day, at 10:30 A. M., Pickens opened again. 
The firing was more deliberate now and better directed. At 
three o'clock in the afternoon the villages of Warrenton and 
Woolsey were afire from the hot shots of the Federal bat- 
teries.^ Two churches, the Confederate hospital, and some 
score of private dwellings were consumed. The sand bat- 
teries between Barrancas and McRee continued to be 
worked furiously throughout the day. 

At two o'clock in the morning, November 24th, firing 
ceased. " Quiet reigned," wrote General Bragg.* Sunday 
morning dawned in profound peace. By contrast a death- 
like stillness seemed to pervade everything. 

In this first duel of the forts more than 5,000 cannon 
shots had been fired, and all told, eight men had been killed. 
The firing was at comparatively short range — from 2,000 
to 3,000 yards." The Confederate works had suffered the 
greater damage. The result of the bombardment demon- 
strated the strength of Pickens when matched against the 
improvised works across the channel ; and showed that the 
Union could with ease continue to hold Pensacola bay and 
could ultimately, by greater effort, completely destroy the 
Southern fortifications. General Bragg, however, found 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 491. * Ibid., pp. 478, 491. 

» A^. Y. Herald, Dec. 12, 1861. Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 47S, 
491. 

* Ibid., p. 489. 

• Ibid., pp. 469, 489, 491. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 137 

something to be thankful for. In closing his report of the 
engagement, he chanted like David, "The missiles of death, 
showered upon us by an infuriated enemy, respecting neither 
women, children, nor the sick, have been so directed as to 
cause us to laugh at their impotent rage. ' Verily, except 
the Lord keepeth the city, the watchman walketh but in 
vain.' " ' 

The Federal commander at Pickens, Colonel Brown, was 
denounced bitterly by General Bragg for firing upon the 
Confederate hospital. The hospital building was in the 
rear of the batteries, and Brown had notified Bragg to move 
either his batteries or his hospital. Bragg had replied, 

It seems from your communication that you claim the right 
to violate the hospital flag because it may be abused. Admit 
that principle and we must be in a state of barbarism. The 
sick, the women, the children, and the prisoners must become 
the object of vengeance ; the white flag must be abolished ; 
booty and beauty, rape and rapine must follow in the traces 
of a victorious command.^ 

To this Brown replied. 

You have knowingly and willingly misconstrued my letter for 
the evident purpose of having your Christian answer pub- 
lished. You knew that in calling to your notice that these 
buildings would necessarily be exposed to my fire I was in- 
fluenced by a desire to save the sick, women, and children 
from danger.' 

The bombardment followed this controversy. The women, 
children, and sick — if there were any — were removed be- 
yond the danger zone. 

* Off. Reds. Retell. , s. i, v. 6, p. 493. Report of Bragg 

* Ibid., p. 470. 

» Ibid., p. 471. " ' 



138 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

A second artillery duel of less consequence took place on 
New Year's afternoon, 1862. Again the engagement was 
begun by Federal cannon opening on a steamer stationed 
near the navy-yard. Almost immediately the whole west- 
ern rim of the bay's mouth vv^as aflame in a superb and use- 
less waste of valuable ammunition/ General Bragg was 
away when the engagement began. His timely arrival put 
a stop to the Confederate firing. This induced the enemy 
to cease. A large store-house at the navy-yard was burned 
by the Federal hot shot. Brigadier-General Anderson, 
who in Bragg's absence had given the order to return the 
fire, was arrested by his superior on a charge of intoxica- 
tion. The charge was not substantiated, but it created a 
bitter controversy in the Confederate army on Pensacola 
bay.^ 

These artillery duels, so long awaited by both armies and 
the entire country, clearly indicated that without tre- 
mendous effort Pensacola bay could never be controlled by 
the Confederacy. That power was thereby deprived of a 
valuable port of entry for blockade-runners and the great- 
est naval base on the Gulf. Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa 
island never passed out of the hands of the Union. 

Early in 1862 the development of the conflict in Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee seriously threatened the safety of the 
lower South. While the army of McClellan was preparing 
to move forward in Virginia, the western army was actively 
engaged in a far-flung and stubborn campaign which has 
been termed by one critic " a flanking movement on a vast 
scale ".' If the Confederate line in the West had been 
broken, a few days' march southward would have put the 

^ Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 6, pp. 497, 671. 

» A^. Y. Herald, Jan. 30, 1862. A^. Y. Times, Jan. 16, 18, 1862. Off. 
Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, pp. 323, 324. 
* Hosmer, Appeal to Arms, p. 84. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 139 

invaders in the most populous portions of Mississippi and 
Alabama. They would have swept before them a compara- 
tively dense slave population whose work was vital to the 
success of distant Southern armies. Plantations, ware- 
houses, homes, and recruiting grounds would have fallen 
into Federal hands — for the heart of the productive lower 
South was here — in striking distance of the Western army. 
The rivers which penetrated this region complicated the 
military problem of defense and produced a new factor to 
be seriously reckoned with in interior warfare — namely, the 
river gunboat. 

President Lincoln was anxious for a general advance of 
Federal forces. He was consistently aggressive in his mili- 
tary policy and sometimes in advice to his army command- 
ers showed irascibility when confronted with probably 
undue cautiousness. He issued orders for a general advance 
to begin not later than February 22nd, 1862.^ Before that 
date his western army was actively engaged. Fort Henry 
fell on February 6th. Grant at once moved against the 
more formidable Fort Donelson. On February i6th it 
capitulated.^ In March, McClellan's army in the East 
moved slowly and majestically forward to ultimate defeat 
in the Peninsula campaign. 

Military events during the first weeks of the spring of 
1862 possess a certain panoramic largeness and dramatic 
quality which partly hides the true hideousness of war. 
From Virginia to Missouri the conflict was developing on 
an immense scale. The entire frontier between the two re- 
publics was distraught in the hurry and thunder of hostile 
armies, except where mountain solitudes shut out the 
clamor of the warring nation. Grant was moving forward 

' Nicolay and Hay, Complete Wks., v. ii, p. 119. 
' Hosmer, op. cit., p. 95. 



140 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

with persistence and good fortune toward his star. Mc- 
Clellan had done his best work ere he led his army into 
Virginia. His star had reached the zenith, but he and others 
did not reaHze it. Lee, laboring over coast defenses and 
recruitment in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, had 
not yet given evidence of that genius which within a few 
months made him as leader of the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia the most remarkable figure of the war. Albert Sidney 
Johnston was striving with the Confederate war depart- 
ment to collect a great army for the decisive shock that 
most wise Southerners then knew must come in the 
West. It came with swiftness. Shiloh was fought in early 
April. The Federal advance was checked but Johnston, the 
great leader, was lost to the South. Hardly had the bells 
ceased their tolling for the dead when Farragut with a 
powerful fleet swept past the forts below New Orleans and 
was literally swept into fame by his victory in Louisiana, 
the scene of his childhood.^ This aggressive movement in 
the West toward the South drew from all the cotton states 
troops to repel the Federal invasion,^ and what is important 
in this narrative of Florida, greatly reduced Confederate 
military strength within that state. 

The withdrawal of soldiers was not the only weakness 
which threatened to prostrate Florida before invading 
armies. Local conditions almost destroyed military effi- 
ciency. Arms, ammunition, and supplies were scarce and 
difficult to procure even when military funds were plenti- 
ful.' "As sure as the sun rises, unless cannon, powder, etc., 

^ Rhodes, U. S., v. 3, pp. 580-630. Hosmer, op. cit., chap. 6. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 6, particularly pp. 400, 406, 409, 411, 418. 

' Ibid., pp. 276, 287, 288, 299, 319, 325, 399, etc. On October 29th 
Milton to Mallory : " Florida wants arms. She has not received a 
musket from the Confederate states"; on Nov. 14, "We need arms 
and munitions of war " ; on Nov. 19, to Pres. Davis, " We need troops 
and munitions of war and military officers of education." 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 



141 



be sent to Florida in the next thirty days, she will fall into 
the hands of the North," reported Brigadier-General Gray- 
son, who commanded in East Florida. " Florida will be- 
come a Yankee province," he concluded. " Our state is in 
a most deplorable condition," stated Governor Milton to 
Secretary Alallory in October, 1861. A few days later he 
informed President Davis that there was " much derange- 
ment of military affairs in this state owing chiefly to the 
desire to enter Confederate service for short periods and 
certain pay. The large majority who were willing to serve 
as soldiers as infantry are now in favor of riding into ser- 
vice." 

Great sections of Florida were entirely without railways. 
Pikes were poor ; towns were few ; bridges and fords were 
many, and Florida rivers were given to sudden rising and 
falling. Such conditions hampered the mobilization of 
troops, and when they were mobilized, disputes and wrang- 
ling took place between the officers of state and Confederate 
troops concerning authority.^ The governor reported in 
December. 1861, to the secretary of war that such disputing 
at Apalachicola " frightened and alarmed the citizens and 
threatened most serious and disreputable disturbances." ^ 

Intemperance in the use of liquor and ignorance of the 
essentials of military organization and management were 
not uncommon short-comings among both the militia and 
the Confederate troops recruited in Florida.^ Experience 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 6, pp. 288, 298, 355, etc. Milton Papers, 
Nov.-Dec, i86r. 

=" Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 14, pp. 303, 325, 477, etc.; v. 6, pp. 287, 301. 
Milton stated that the Confederate Lieut.-Col. in command at Cedar 
Keys " drank to excess ", while the garrison at Fernandina was in his 
opinion " demoralized by the habitual intemperance of its Colonel and 
Lieut.-Col." On April 10, 1862, Gen. Finegan, stationed at Tallahassee, 
issued orders (No. 17) calling "upon officers of all grades to aid 
him in suppressing the vice of intemperance in the army." Also 
Richardson, Lights and Sluidozvs of Itinerant Life, p'. 173, etc. 



142 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



in the field eradicated most short-comings of this character 
and made of the Florida troops seasoned, canny, fighting 
veterans in some of the most effective armies in history. It 
took time to produce such fighting organizations. The re- 
markable thing is that in so short a time and with such poor 
equipment the Southern rank and file learned to practice 
warfare so successfully. General Bragg, commanding in 
West Florida, reported in the autumn of 1861 that his army 
— more than 5,000 strong — was "raw and insufficiently or- 
ganized ".^ The greater part of it was composed of troops 
from neighboring states. 

General Grayson, commanding troops in Eastern and 
Middle Florida until the autumn of 1861, was dying of 
tuberculosis, and was often abed. He was physically unfit 
to cope with his strenuous task." Petty politics in regi- 
mental elections had developed bitter feuds between offi- 
cers.^ State politics in some insidious way aggravated 
the trouble. When Governor Milton entered upon the 
duties of his office in November, 186 1, he found the 
friends of ex-Governor Perry directing military organi- 
zation. Milton was personally opposed to Perry and 
his followers. Both were Democrats and radicals. " Gov- 
ernor Perry," he wrote confidentially to Mallory, " is, 
I reckon, as you have perceived, a man of strong pre- 
judices, without very strong intellectual abilities." * The 
new governor at once attempted to supplant as best he could 
the Perry men by his own friends. To accomplish this he 

J Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 757, 762. 

* Ibid., pp. 288, 289, 341. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. 6, passim. Correspondence of Milton, Benjamin, Davis, 
Trapier, Floyd, Finegan, Anderson, and Finley in this vol., and Milton 
Papers, MSS. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 287, Letter of Oct. 2, 1862, and p. 
290, to J. Davis. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 



143 



sought to influence the Confederate war department in many 
of its appointments, removals, and orders concerning Flor- 
ida and Florida troops for the Confederacy/ 

To cap the climax of misfortunes for the immediate mili- 
tary welfare of the state, the constitutional convention 
which reassembled in Tallahassee during January, 1862, 
voted out of existence the militia after March loth of that 
year.^ Most troops in Florida — state militia and Confed- 
erate — were " twelve-month volunteers ". Their terms of 
enlistment dated mostly from the spring and summer of 
1861/ Both the Confederate government and the state 
government were face to face in the spring of 1862 with the 
possibility of a considerable part of their military being 
temporarily disbanded. Thousands of soldiers were in- 
duced to re-enlist before their terms expired by the reward 
of furloughs, which enabled them to return home for a little 
while. They found themselves heroes in the eyes of the 
homefolks — the women particularly. To keep alive the im- 
pression, they promptly returned and re-enlisted.* The 
Confederate government finally settled the question of hold- 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 93, 292, 298, 300, 355, 390, 404, 412, 
427, 429; V. 14, p. 474; V. 53, pt. 2, pp. 203-206, 211, 230, 236, 237, 290. 
Conven. proceedings, 1862, pp. 57, 95; Milton Papers, 1862-4. 

2 Gov.'s message, November 17, 1862, Ordinance of Convention, in 
part as follows : " That the Governor be and is hereby required 
on or before March 10 next to transfer into Confederate service all 
troops now^ in the service of the state; and if they fail or refuse to go 
into Confederate service, said troops shall be disbanded." 

' Muster rolls in Robertson, Soldiers of Florida. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 376, 768, 770, 778, 806, 810. On Dec. 
II, 1861, Gen. Bragg at Pensacola wrote to Sec. Benjamin: "Great 
difificulty is being experienced in organizing our old men for the war — 
our fight (on Santa Rosa Island) has injured 'our prospects. Men wish 
to go home and talk over their deeds with their friends and families. 
I shall try now by liberal use of furloughs. As they are to go anyhow 
it will be as well to let them go on furlough, and then they will not 
stay. The women will not tolerate it." 



144 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

ing together its volunteers by the passage of the Conscript 
Act on April i6th/ 

More than a month before this date the Florida militia 
had been disbanded. The convention ordered that the gov- 
ernor transfer to Confederate service those troops who 
wished to be transferred. If a soldier did not wish to go 
from the state service to the Confederate service he was to 
be mustered out on March loth. Brigadier-General Floyd 
of Florida expressed the opinion that " the militia will not 
enlist in Confederate service until they have enjoyed the 
privilege of going home." This proved to be the case.^ On 
March loth less than i,ooo Florida militia were mustered 
out and for a time the Confederacy was none the better ofif 
for soldiers in Florida.^ The men returned home before 
entering the service again. 

In the Confederate war department the defense of Flor- 
ida resolved itself primarily into defending the approaches 
to Apalachicola at the mouth of the Apalachicola river; 
Fernandina, the Atlantic terminus of Florida's railway sys- 
tem; Jacksonville, near the mouth of the St. Johns river; 
and Pensacola, the chief town of West Florida.* The evi- 

1 Act C. S. Congress, Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, v. i, pp. 1095-1099. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. 6, pp. 412, 768, 770-8. Gov.'s message, Nov. 17, 1862, 
Milton Papers. 

' Rpt. State Adj.-Gen., Jan., 1862. Gov.'s message, Nov. 17, 1862. 
" The effect of this order," wrote Gov. Milton, " was, in spite of every 
effort I could make, to disband the slate forces and thus create the 
necessity of abandoning Apalachicola and other important positions to 
the mercy of the enemy." Also A71. Cyclo.. 1862, for resume of con- 
ditions. 

* The principal coast towns in Florida were Pensacola, Apalachicola, 
Cedar Keys, Tampa, and Key West on the Gulf; and St. Augustine, 
Jacksonville, and Fernandina on the Atlantic. Key West never passed 
out of Federal hands. Pensacola was held jointly by the Confederates 
and Federals. None of these towns had a population of more than 
3,500. Regarding their condition at this time see U. S. Census, i860; 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 145 

dent intention of the Confederate government during the 
autumn and early winter of 1861-2 was to defend the 
Florida seaboard/ Cannon, ammunition, and supplies as 
well as troops were sent to Fernandina, Apalachicola, St. 
Johns Bluff (below Jacksonville), and Pensacola.^ Cedar 
Keys, the Gulf terminus of the Florida railway, was neg- 
lected. 

By the end of February, 1862, thirty guns had been 
mounted in works about Fernandina — some in Fort Clinch 
and some behind sand barriers. A few pieces were eight- 
and ten-inch Columbiads. Brigadier-General Trapier, in 
command at Fernandina, stated that it would take 7,000 
men to man adequately the works and trenches about the 
town. Never more than 3,500 men were stationed there. ^ 

At Apalachicola on the Gulf the defenses were ridicu- 
lously feeble. By October, 1861, they consisted of six light 
and old thirty-two-pound smooth-bores, mounted on St. Vin- 
cent's island, twelve miles away toward the Gulf. The land 
approaches to the town were unguarded, as well as an ap- 
proach by water from the sea through East Pass. By the 

A''. Y. Herald, Jan. 12, Feb. 14, Mch. 2, 14, 15, 18, 20, Apr. 2, 1862; 
N. Y. Times, Mch. 13, 1862; Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, pp. 291, 298, 
301, 303, 316, 355, 757, 762; V. 14, pp. 488, 512, 630. 

^ Off. Reds. Rehell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 294, 307, 334, etc. ; v. 53, supra, pp. 
64, 73. Correspondence of Milton, Yulee, Grayson, Finegan, Trapier, 
Benjamin, Davis. Also Milton Papers, 1862. On Nov. 29, 1861. Benja- 
min (Secy, of War) wrote to Milton, "No effort shall be intermitted 
by the Confederate Government to insure the safety of your state." 
On Oct. 22, Benjamin had written to Gen. Trapier in Florida, "Your 
instructions are brief and simple. Do everything that your means and 
energy will permit to place the coast of Florida in a state of defense." 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 276-7, 286-7, 303, 332, 334, 367-8, 386. 

• Ibid., p. 371. In Jan., 1862, Gen. Trapier reported 2,127 Confederate 
infantry, 1,126 cavalry, and 95 artillery in East and Middle Florida. 
These troops included one Georgia regiment, one Mississippi regiment, 
and the rest Florida troops. 



146 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

end of the year shallow entrenchments more than three 
miles long had been thrown up to protect the town, but to 
man these trenches at least 5,000 men were needed and 
never more than i ,000 men could be counted on for service 
there. The place was no stronger in guns, the heaviest 
being a 32-pound smooth-bore. The supply of ammunition 
was very limited.^ Apalachicola was the entrepot by sea 
to rich sections of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It was 
important therefore that it be protected. " Insecurity and 
apprehension is the predominant feeling at Apalachicola," 
wrote a citizen of the town.^ Governor Milton and ex-Sen- 
ator Yulee desperately sought help from the Confederate 
war department for both Fernandina and Apalachicola, but 
with little result. The pressure was becoming terrible else- 
where and Florida was almost forgotten.^ 

Early in February, 1862, Mr. Benjamin, Confederate sec- 
retary of war, directed General Bragg at Pensacola to send 
immediately to Johnston's army in Tennessee all troops 
which he could spare.* By this order was first officially 
transmitted to Florida that increasing pressure for men 
and supplies felt along the northwest border of the Confed- 
eracy. The entire lower South responded. The shifting 
of military forces west and north was a vast movement.^ 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 286, 304, 319, 355-6. 

* Ibid., pp. 286-7. 

* For Milton's attitude and efforts, see Message, Nov. 17, 1862, Milton 
Papers; Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 6, pp. 288, 319, 325, 354-5, 402, 404. 
Milton's home was in Apalachicola valley, which sharpened his interest 
in that section. For Yulee's attitude and efforts see Off. Reds. Retell., 
s. i, V. 6, pp. 292-5. Letter to R. E. Lee in N. Y. Herald, March 18, 
1868; N. Y. Herald, Jan. 27, 1862. Yulee's beautiful plantation was 
near Fernandina, which sharpened his interest in East Florida. See 
Phil. Bulletin, Jan. 24, 1862. 

* Off. Reds. Retell, s. i, v. 6, p. 823. 

* See An..Cyclo., 1861-2. Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 725-894. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA 147 

The resulting withdrawal of troops from Florida was a 
small part of this movement, but it wrought an important 
change for the state. 

Fort Donelson fell on February i6th. One week later 
the Confederate war department announced a complete 
change of policy regarding the east or Atlantic coast of 
Florida. It was to be abandoned. Mr. Benjamin, secretary 
of war, informed Robert E. Lee, then commanding the mili- 
tary department including East and Central Florida, that 
the recent disaster to Confederate arms in Tennessee would 
force the government to withdraw its lines within more 
defensible limits; that the railroad between Memphis and 
Richmond must be held at all hazards; that this could be 
done only by the withdrawal of troops from the seaboard ; 
and that accordingly the troops along the Florida coast 
must be sent to General Johnston's army in Tennessee.^ 
The only Confederate troops to be retained would be for 
the defense of the Apalachicola river. 

When General Lee heard of the fall of Fort Donelson, he 
warned General Trapier, his lieutenant in East Florida, to 
be prepared to move toward Tennessee on short notice." 
Mr. Benjamin informed General Bragg, commanding in 
West Florida, that " it is proposed not to leave any force at 
all at Pensacola. The heavy blow which has been inflicted 
on us in Kentucky and Tennessee renders necessary a com- 
plete change in our whole program." ^ Some hopes were ex- 
pressed by General Lee and the Confederate war depart- 
ment that troops might be spared for the protection of the 
Apalachicola and St. Johns rivers.* It will be remembered 
that on March loth by law the state militia would cease to 

» Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, p. 398. 

» Ibid, p. 393. * Ibid., p. 286. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. 6, pp. 398, 406, 410, 884. 



148 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

exist. The withdrawal of Confederate troops threatened 
therefore complete abandonment by the military. Governor 
Milton believed that with seaports, rivers, railways, and in- 
terior towns unguarded Florida would soon be the scene of 
disastrous invasion. " The effect of this order," he 
wrote, " is to abandon Middle, East and Southern Florida 
to the mercy and abuse of the Lincoln Government." ^ 

Troops moved out of the state slowly. Cannon, mili- 
tary equipment, and supplies were withdrawn with some 
difficulty because transportation facilities were poor.^ Public 
opinion in Florida called for every possible delay. In 
Middle and East Florida many of the troops were natives 
of the state. General Pemberton wrote from Florida in 
March, 1862 : " I find the citizens of Tallahassee much ex- 
cited over the subject of the withdrawal of the troops, and 
I am informed by Governor Milton and others that the feel- 
ing in many cases amounts almost to disaffection." ^ In 
East Florida some people declared that the Confederate 
Government had " deserted them and has no claims to their 
fealty." * General Bragg stated that " the people of Pen- 
sacola, Mobile, and all Alabama and West Florida are 
greatly alarmed at the report that this place [Pensacola] is 
to be abandoned to the enemy." The Confederacy with 
no navy except a few commerce destroyers could not hold 
its seaboard and its northern frontier at the same time. 

By the middle of April, 1862, 5,000 of the 6,500 troops 
on Pensacola bay were withdrawn beyond the state.' By 

1 Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 402, 403, 408. 

* Ibid., pp. 398, 404-412, 417, 835, 838, 857, 858, 862, 869. 
» Ibid., pp. 841, 838. 

* Special Florida correspondent of A''. Y. Tribune, Mar. 24, 1862. 

^ Ibid., pp. 371, 409; V. 14, pp. 485, 488, 512, 530, 577. See also regi- 
mental histories in Robertson, Soldiers of Florida. 



BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA i^q 

the end of May probably 3,000 of the 4,000 troops in East 
and Central Florida had left.^ The defenses along the 
coast were partially or totally dismantled. The ordnance 
was removed into the interior. While Confederate forces 
were leaving the state for the West a Federal army was 
preparing to invade. 

' Oif. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, passim. 



CHAPTER VII 
Federal Invasion 

Federal invasion quickly followed Confederate aban- 
donment of Florida coast defenses. The invasion was a 
component part of an extended movement down the At- 
lantic seaboard from Fortress Monroe, Virginia. The Fed- 
eral navy department elaborated plans early in July, 1861, 
for this proposed advance southward. Fernandina, Flor- 
ida, was then prominently mentioned as an objective point. 
" Fernandina is by its position obviously the most suitable 
point for a place of deposit," reported the House Com- 
mittee on Naval Affairs, " answering at one end of the line 
to Hampton Roads at the other." ^ This town is in ex- 
treme northeastern Florida, built on an island, and near 
the Georgia-Florida state line. 

Late in August, 1861, Forts Hatteras and Clark on the 
North Carolina coast were taken by the Federal expedition 
from Fortress Monroe. On November 7th, General T. W. 
Sherman took Port Royal, S. C.^ Logically the occupation of 

^ Rpt. Naval Com., Off. Reds. Rehll., s. i, v. 53, supra, pp. 64-73. On 
July 5, 1861, the Du Pont Comit. reported to Secy. Welles on the neces- 
sity of occupying Fernandina. Its population was estimated by the 
committee at i,ooo; depth at bar, 14 feet; property: valuable wharves 
and warehouses of the Fla. R. R. ; defense : isolation on Amelia Island 
made it easy to defend. Fernandina was compared with Port Royal, 
S. C. and Jacksonville, Fla., and pronounced the best place for a 
naval and military station. 

' Rhodes, U. S., v. 3, pp. 489-90. Hosmer, Appeal to Arms, pp. 74, 
112. 

ISO 



FEDERAL INVASION 151 

Fernandina was soon to be attempted/ General Horatio 
Wright on the last day of January, 1862, formally proposed 
that an expedition set out from Port Royal for Fernandina. 
His chief, General McClellan, approved the plan, and late in 
February a combined naval and military force was ready to 
proceed to Florida.^ The people of the lower South had rea- 
son to fear this steady advance by sea from the North. It 
bade fair to sweep along the entire southern coast, Gulf as 
well as Atlantic.^ It meant invasion with the attendant de- 
struction of life and property. During 1862 extended opera- 
tions did not occur on the Gulf coast of Florida. In this 
quarter, however, the state experienced two naval raids on 
its unprotected entrepots. The first of these was the de- 
scent on Cedar Keys in January. 

During the Civil War, Key West was an important dis- 
tributing center for war news — particularly news concern- 
ing the lower South. Both Confederate and Federal au- 
thorities obtained information in the town. White Union 
men and escaped negroes from time to time carried there 
news about the interior. Confederate sympathizers in the 
town forwarded information to the mainland.* News that 
the Confederate coast guard at Cedar Keys had been greatly 

^ Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 6, pp. 207-9. On Dec. 19, 1861, Sherman 
(T. W.) wrote McClellan: " Du Pont thinks he will be ready for Fer- 
nandina in a week or two"; and on Dec. 21, to Cameron, " I have for 
a long time been ready for Fernandina, but the Navy is not ". 

* Ibid., pp. 220, 225, 235. Feb. 14th, McClellan wrote Sherman : " The 
expedition to Fernandina is well and I shall be glad to hear that it is 
ours." 

» A^. Y. Times, Mch. 19, 28, 1862. N. Y. Herald. Mch. 18, 1862, letter 
of Yulee. Correspondence of Governor Milton in Milton Papers and 
Off. Reds. RebelL; several letters of Gov. Shorter in Off. Reds. RebelL 

* N. Y. Herald, Mch. 2, Oct. 26, 1862. A^. Y. Times, Feb. 28, 1862; 
Mch. 18, 26. 1863. N. Y. Tribune, Mch. 9, 1863. iV. Y. World, Mch. 
IS, 1863 ; Off. Reds. RebelL; and Navy; and Milton Papers, passim. 



1^2 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

reduced and that several ships were loading there prepara- 
tory to running the blockade reached Key West in Decem- 
ber, 1 86 1. At best it was only a rumor, but being a very 
plausible one, it might have sent there a Federal man-of- 
war engaged in the blockading.^ 

On January 15th, the United States ship Hatteras from 
Key West entered the harbor of Cedar Keys. Few inhabi- 
tants were left in the village. The remnant of the Coast 
Guard, twenty-two strong — stationed on Sea Horse Key 
to protect property from thieves and " Union Men " — 
quickly decided on flight.^ They ran for their boat, which 
was a fiat-bottomed scow. They attempted frantically to 
" pole " the boat to the mainland. On reaching deep water 
their poles were found to be too short to touch bottom. 
In their hurry they had forgotten their sweeps. The wind 
and tide caught them and bore them out toward the waiting 
Hatteras, where they were taken aboard as prisoners of 
war.^ 

Marines and sailors from the Hatteras were sent ashore. 
They spiked the three cannon found on Sea Horse Key, set 
afire five schooners and three sloops loaded with cotton and 
turpentine preparatory to running the blockade; burned the 
railway depot, seven freight cars and a warehouse filled 
with turpentine ; and pulled down all telegraph wires.* 
No one in the village was molested because no one was 
found there, probably, who was not professedly a Union 
sympathizer. Union men in the neighborhood were given 
an opportunity to subscribe regularly to the Federal oath 

> Rpt Gen. Trapier, Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, pp. 74-77 ; N. Y. 
Herald, Jan. 3, 1862. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, p. 51. Rpt. Gen. Trapier (C. S. A.). 
» Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 76-77. Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, 

pp. 48-51. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, pp. 48-50. Report of Emmons. 



FEDERAL INVASION 1 53 

of allegiance. Several negroes ran off to the warship in 
the harbor, but not being desired by those on board they 
were promptly sent back to land. The Hatteras soon "with- 
drew to sea." ^ 

This was the first naval raid on an unprotected Florida 
seaport. Military strength at Cedar Keys had been de- 
pleted to strengthen Fernandina, which was the Atlantic 
terminus of the Florida railroad, and as a result the Gulf 
terminus of this road had been almost wiped out by one 
small gunboat." Mr. Yulee, ex-United States Senator and 
president of the road, arrived there several days after the 
catastrophe. ^^•^' 

A few weeks later (February 28th) the Federal expedi- 
tion for the occupation of East Florida sailed from Port 
Royal, South Carolina.* The fleet comprised some twenty- 
four or twenty-five steamships and eight sailing craft. Eigh- 
teen of the steamers were gun-boats or armed transports.' 
A brigade of infantry was aboard under the command 
of General Horatio Wright.® The fleet was commanded 
by Commodore Du Pont. " It was a clear, star-lit night 
when the fleet weighed anchor and proceeded southward." ^ 
The distance from Port Royal to Fernandina is less than 

' Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, pp. 74-77. A^^. Y. Herald, Jan. 25, 30; 
Feb. 14, 1862. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, p. 51. Statement of Gen. Trapier (C. 
S. A.). 

» Letter of Yulee to Lee. A^. Y. Herald, Mch. 18, 1862. 

*■ Du Font's Report. Moore, Rehell. Red., v. iv, p. 229. 

* See Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, p. 229; N. Y. Times, Mch. 15, 1862; 
N. Y. Herald, Mch. 11, 1862; Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12. pp. S71-575. 

« Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 6, p. 244; Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 4. Dray- 
ton Report; A^. Y. Times, Mch. 15, 1862. The troops were the 97th 
Penn. and 4th New Hamp. Infantry. 

^ Correspondent of A'^. Y. Times with expedition Mch. 15, 1862. 



154 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

150 miles. The flotilla wound its way slowly along the 
Georgia coast, which is washed by a semi-tropical ocean and 
fringed by the Sea Islands, that lift a waving cloud of 
green above the azure of the sea. The shore of the main- 
land is sunk almost to the level of the ocean in great, deso- 
late, wind-swept marshes which stretch down from the 
North and touch the sea in " beach lines that linger and curl 
as a silver-wrought garment that clings to and follows the 
firm, sweet limbs of a girl." Here are the marshes of 
Glynn. Beyond them is Florida. 

Near the southeastern edge of Georgia, Cumberland 
island forms with the mainland St. Andrews sound. This 
sound afforded a way by water to Fernandina in the rear of 
the heavy guns of Fort Clinch, which guarded the seaward 
approach to the harbor.^ On the morning of March 2nd, 
the fleet cast anchor in St. Andrews sound. Information 
was obtained from a negro that Fernandina was being evac- 
uated by its Confederate garrison and deserted by its in- 
habitants.^ After some delay several gunboats were sent 
ahead to Fernandina.^ The negro had reported correctly. 
The town was being abandoned. Word that the Federal 
fleet had sailed from Port Royal quickly reached Fernan- 
dina by telegraph. The Confederate garrison at Fort Clinch 
began the removal of guns and ammunition. The inhabi- 
tants of the neighborhood began to pack their personal ef- 
fects and collect their negroes for flight into the interior. 
They were slow to turn their backs on their homes. Many 
lingered, hoping that the news might prove untrue. But 

* See map Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. 620; also pp. 568-72, 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. 572 (memorandum). Moore, Rebell. 
Red., V. 4, pp. 57, 229. N. Y. Herald, Mch. 18, 1862; N. Y. Times, 
Mch. 15, 1862. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. 573. Du Pont to Commodore 
Drayton of the Pawnee. 



FEDERAL INVASION 



155 



alarming dispatches continued to arrive. The first report 
was confirmed, and during Sunday while church bells were 
ringing, women, children, old men — black, white, slave, and 
free — were reluctantly crossing with the soldiers to the 
mainland, and moving on into the interior away from 
" Yankee " invaders/ 

On Monday afternoon, March 3rd, the advance squadron 
came into the bay. As the gun-boats approached, the last 
railway train pulled out from the station at Fernandina. 
The cars were crowded with fugitives and piled high with 
household goods. Confederate outposts appeared here and 
there on the seashore, and, firing random shots at the boats, 
retreated into the woods. A small river steamer heavily 
laden and working her machinery to the utmost was at- 
tempting to escape in the direction of the St. Marys river. 
Smoke poured from her funnels. The forsaken hamlet on 
the edge of the sea was serene in the bright sunshine of this 
winter afternoon. A white flag somewhere — perhaps on 
the most prominent pier — was waving. The locomotive 
and cars began the passage of the long trestle which con- 
nected the island with the mainland. The leading Federal 
gun-boat opened fire. A solid shot struck the last car, and 
tearing through tables, chairs, and bedsteads, killed two 
boys seated on a sofa. The wrecked car with its dead was 
detached and the train, amid the cannon shots of pursuers, 
went on into safety.' The flying river steamer was cap- 
tured after a long chase. Some forty women and children 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, pp. pp. 573-75. Moore, Rebell. Reds., 
V. 4, p. 229. " At eight o'clock the night previous a telegram was re- 
ceived that the Federal fleet was coming," reported Du Pont. " This 
news seems to have produced a perfect panic, as by twelve o'clock the 
next day the garrison which consisted of 1,500 men and almost all the 
inhabitants had gone off." 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, pp. S7^-77- 



156 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

were aboard. Most of them were on their knees engaged 
in prayer for deliverance from the Yankees, " battle, mur- 
der, and sudden death ". The skipper who directed their 
flight till caught by the Federal gunboat was a stout New- 
Englander/ 

Early the next morning troops were landed. The twenty- 
five or thirty families remaining in and about Fernandina 
were peacefully disposed. Several natives " made money 
off the soldiers " by sale and barter. We therefore conclude 
that the policy of the invaders was not unduly severe. 
General Wright posted notices that the persons and property 
of the " Loyal " would not be molested. There were soon 
evidences of reviving loyalty under such stimulating an- 
nouncements. The property of those who had fled the town 
and of those known to be disloyal was appropriated by the 
Federal commissary department. This mode of acquiring 
forfeited property had its difficulties. " Loyal " individ- 
uals in Fernandina claimed the property of friends who had 
fled, which reduced the amount to be confiscated by the 
army. A quantity of rice, cotton, whiskey, molasses, and 
turpentine was seized; and also a locomotive, several rail- 
way cars, and two blockade-runners in cargo. General 
Wright expressed the opinion that, with few exceptions, 
those remaining in Fernandina were Confederate sympa- 
thizers.^ 

On March 8th, in the afternoon, a Federal squadron of 
four gunboats, two armed launches and a transport with 
the 4th New Hampshire Infantry sailed from Fernandina 
for Jacksonville and St. Augustine.^ When the ships ar- 

> A^. y. Times, Mch. 15, 1862. Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 244. 
Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, pp. 57, 229. 

* Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, pp. 57, 229 A''. Y. Times, Mch. 15, 1862. 
A^. V. Herald, Mch. 18, 1862. Naval Reds., s. i, v. 12, pp. 573-585. 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, pp. 586-588. 



FEDERAL INVASION 



15: 



rived at the mouth of the St. Johns anchors were cast and 
a boat sent ashore. Negroes reported that Jacksonville 
was being abandoned and that the fortifications along the 
lower St. Johns had been dismantled. 

The portion of the squadron ordered to Jacksonville 
crossed the bar of the St. Johns on the afternoon of the 
iith.^ Near nightfall of this day, while the Federal ships 
were at anchor twenty miles away, several hundred irregu- 
lar Confederate troops arrived in Jacksonville on the rail- 
way train with orders from General Trapier to burn that 
property which might be of use to the enemy.^ Consternation 
quickly spread among the remaining inhabitants of Jack- 
sonville. Much of the property in and about the town was 
owned by Union sympathizers. The Confederate soldiers 
who came with orders to destroy came with the intention 
of intimidating Union men. At dusk the torch was applied 
to saw-mills along the St. Johns and the warehouses at- 
tached; in Jacksonville, to a foundry, machine shops, hotels, 
warehouses, the railway station, a business block, and a few 
dwelling-houses. The loss amounted to more than a half 
million dollars. Rowdyism by the irregular troops accom- 
panied the destruction. Stores were broken open and plun- 
dered. The most offensive of the Union sympathizers fled 
across the river and found safety in hiding till picked up 
by Federal troops. Those on board the ships near the 
mouth of the river saw in the sky the eerie reflection of the 
burning property.^ 

The next day dawned damp and cold. Seabirds were 

^ Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 4, pp. 283, 293. N. Y. Tribune, Mch. 24, 
1862. N. Y. Herald, Mch. 20, 1862. 

* Off. Reds. Rehell. s. i, v. 6, p. 414. 

» Rebell. Red., v. 4, p. 293. N. Y. Tribune, Mch. 24, 1862 A''. Y. 
Times, Mch. 20, Apr. 2, 1862. N. Y. Express, Apr. 7, 1862. TV. Y. 
Herald, Mch. 20 (containing itemized list of property destroyed), 
Mch. 31, 1862. 



158 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

flying low and no wind blew from the ocean. Through a 
foggy atmosphere the squadron proceeded up the river. 
The charred ruins left by the Confederate " regulators " 
were still smouldering when the boats cast anchor off Jack- 
sonville.^ A deputation from Jacksonville headed by a Mr. 
Burritt — called " a Northern man " — came aboard the flag- 
ship to surrender the town, pledge the good behavior of its 
citizens, and pray for protection against further vandalism.^ 
Mr. Burritt stated to Captain Stevens, the fleet commander, 
that the past night had been one of terror and that the opin- 
ion of the people of Jacksonville was singularly unanimous 
on the subject of the war. " It is believed to be unwise, un- 
provoked, and unjust," he said. He frankly represented the 
people as not being in sympathy with the Union.^ " There 
was no enthusiasm or feeling of any kind shown by the 
people on the arrival of the Union troops," writes one ob- 
server. " Captain Stevens is confident of a strong Union 
sentiment among the people and that a considerable por- 
tion of the State is weary of the rebellion and will return 
to its duty," he continued. 

No such inference could be drawn from anything that I have 
heard publicly or privately. I talked with many persons, and 
nowhere was expressed love for the Union. If any sentiment 
predominates, it is loyalty to the State. The Confederate 
Government, they say, has deserted them and has no claim to 
their fealty.* 

' Account from Philadelphia Press, Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 4, 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. 599. 

' The mayor of Jacksonville issued a proclamation on Mch. 7, 1862, 
stating that the city council after deliberation with the Confederate 
military authorities had decided to make no effort to defend Jackson- 
ville. He counseled the people to remain in their homes and pursue 
their usual vocations. Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. koo. ^ 

* A'^. Y. Tribune, Mch. 24, 1862, special correspondent with expedi- 
tion. 



FEDERAL INVASION 



159 



Captain Stevens reported : " From conversation with intel- 
ligent citizens I find that inhabitants are seeking and wait- 
ing for the protection of our flag; that they do not fear us 
but their own people," ^ while another person stated : '' Our 
(Federal) reception was not enthusiastic. They looked as 
if they could not help it." ^ 

The truth was that many of the inhabitants of Jackson- 
ville had departed ere the invaders arrived. Those who 
departed were hostile to the Union and those who remained 
were divided in sentiment. The Union sympathizers were 
mostly prosperous town merchants, lumbermen, and real- 
estate dealers who had recently come into Florida from the 
North and who being " unwilling to relinquish so much val- 
uable property, remained to protect it ". They vehemently 
urged the retention of the town by Federal troops. Within 
a week General T. W. Sherman arrived and following his 
arrival were inaugurated some rather premature measures 
to reconstruct Florida politically.^ There was little worth 
holding in Jacksonville and the Union men were desper- 
ately trying to make their case as plausible as possible. This 
case will be considered further on. 

It will be remembered that part of the squadron which 
set out from Femandina on March 8th was ordered to St. 
Augustine. A Federal gun-boat anchored off the town on 
the nth, and in the early afternoon Commander Rodgers 
and a Mr. Dennis, of the coast survey, unescorted by troops, 
entered the harbor in a small boat. They were met at the 
principal pier by Mayor Bravo and a curiosity-stricken 
crowd who amicably, though without cheering, escorted the 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. 600. 

* Moore, Retell. Red., v. 4, account from Phila. Press. 

*N. Y. Times, Apr. 2, 1862. N. Y. Herald, Mch. 20, Apr. 11, 1862. 
Moore, Retell. Red., v. 4, pp. 325, 349. 



l6o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Federal officers to the town-hall. There, in the presence of 
mayor and council and the two Federal officials, the town 
was formally surrendered/ 

The people of St. Augustine seemed less perturbed than 
those of Fernandina and Jacksonville. About one-fifth of 
the 2,000 inhabitants had left the town on the approach of 
the Federal warship. The small Confederate garrison had 
retired into the interior the night before." Rodgers visited 
the clergymen of St. Augustine, talked peace and good-will 
to them, and directed that they use their best efforts to re- 
assure the people concerning the kind intentions of the Fed- 
eral government. " I believe many citizens are earnestly 
attached to the Union," wrote Rodgers from St. Augustine, 
" a large number silently opposed to it, and a still larger 
number who care very little about the matter. I think that 
nearly all the men acquiesce in the condition of affairs." ^ 

The only bellicose spirits in this rather peaceful war-time 
episode were some patriotic ladies. " They seem to mistake 
treason for courage," angrily reported the Federal com- 
mander, " and have a theatrical desire to figure as hero- 
ines." * He had found the flag-pole at Fort Marion cut 
down when he arrived. The men said the women did it, 
and one woman, a widow, informed Rodgers to his face, 
" that the men had behaved like cowards, but that there 
were stout hearts in other bosoms (striking her own)." 
This accounts probably for Rodger's outburst.^ 

To recapitulate the military situation in East Florida by 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, pp. 595-596. Moore, Rebel!. Red., v. 4, 
passim. 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. 596. 

* Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, p. 326. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 12, p. 596. 

* Ibid., p. 601. 



FEDERAL INVASION l6i 

the middle of March, 1862: the coast from St. Augustine 
north was in the hands of the Federal military or under the 
guns of the fleet; the Confederate troops remaining had 
fallen back twenty or thirty miles to Sanderson and Bald- 
win;^ bodies of "bushwhackers" and irregular cavalry 
moved here and there through the scrub and along the 
lonely, sandy trails of East Florida seeking to hang the dis- 
loyal; a large portion of the native population had retired 
into the interior to avoid the Federal invasion; a half- 
million dollars worth of property had been burned at Jack- 
sonville by Confederate orders; the Confederate military in 
Florida was steadily moving out of the state for Tennessee 
and Virgina; Governor Milton and others were vigorously 
petitioning the Confederate war department to have the 
troops retained in Florida ; - and as the white dogwood of 
early spring festooned the borders of the spacious fields of 
the interior the wiser ones among the elders who directed 
the planting and herding which was the life of the state 
must have entertained grave fears that enemies would share 
the harvest there. 

The Gulf coast was still held by the Confederacy. A 
veteran Baptist preacher recalling memories of Apalachi- 
cola at that time wrote : 

Our battalion was increased to about 1,200 men. We guarded 
Apalachicola and adjacent islands. The general and all the 
field officers drank. We had fine bands and they frequently 
serenaded us. . . . One day the Lieut.-Col. came to me and 
said that I loved music and that the band had to be treated. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 6, pp. 276, 287, 288, 298, 301, 355. Tha 
troops in East Florida were the 3rd and 4th Fla. Infy. (Confed. 
Army), several companies of ist Fla. Battalion, Infy., and irregular 
bodies of horse and artillery. 

' Letters of Milton to Lee and Benjamin, Off. Reds. Rebell.. s. i, v 
6, pp. 400, 404. 



1 62 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

I told him that I would not treat my father if he were to rise 
from the dead; but to show him that it was not money but 
principle with me, I said that if he would serenade me as a 
Christian I would treat them as Christians. . . . About nine 
o'clock the band and singers came. They opened up at my 
room at full blast on that grand hymn, " Before Jehovah's 
Awful Throne Ye Nations Bow with Sacred Awe." The 
moon was bright. Our headquarters were on the Bay. The 
sound of the many instruments and fine voices swept over the 
Bay, and all the air seemed alive with music. The old general 
came to my door and knocked, exclaiming that he had never 
heard anything like that. And I never have — before or since. 
. . . There are no songs like the songs of Zion. 

The chaplain had promised to treat the singers as Chris- 
tians. He accordingly treated them to oysters.^ 

The tragic march of events abruptly ended garrison duty 
and oyster-suppers at Apalachicola." The disbanding of 
the state militia by order of the Florida convention and the 
steady withdrawal of Confederate troops for service in 
Tennessee forced the abandonment of the town by the mili- 
tary. The Federal blockading squadron hovered off the 
coast. People expected Apalachicola sooner or later to 
experience the fate of Cedar Keys, Jacksonville, St. Au- 
gustine, and Fernandina; therefore many inhabitants fol- 
low^ed the retiring troops into the interior. The blockaders 
demanded in March that the town be surrendered and that 
the people forthwith take the oath of allegiance to the 
Union. Whereupon a committee of citizens — among them 
the Roman Catholic priest — responded : " The city is de- 
fenseless. There are no soldiers or any arms ; but there is 
no one having authority to surrender it." The answer 

* Richardson, Lights and Shadows of Itinerant Life, p. 173. 
' Governor's Message, Nov. 17, 1862. Milton Papers, MSS. 



FEDERAL INVASION 163 

closed with the opinion that there was " no one who would 
take the oath of allegiance except some foreigners." ^ 

The expected visitation from the Federals soon followed 
this candid reply. On the night of April 2nd, a boat ex- 
pedition put off from the two Federal warships blockading 
the harbor and the next day Apalachicola was occupied by 
a small force of marines and sailors — called a " large and 
well-armed force " by its enthusiastic commander.^ The 
town presented a desolate appearance. The batteries were 
dismantled ; the warehouses and shops were closed ; the 
streets and wharves were deserted; the harbor was empty 
of ships. Perhaps 500 people out of a population of 2,500 
remained. Those left behind were mostly poor whites and 
free negroes. Destitution was apparent — no flour, no 
sugar, no meat, and very little corn. The people were de- 
pendent on fish and oysters for subsistence.' 

They gathered silently and respectfully about the group 
of Federal soldiers and listened to the words of the com- 
mander, Stellwagen. "It was really affecting," he reported, 
" to see the crowd, principally women and children." * He 
magnanimously granted them permission to fish in what 
they had been wont to consider their own bay, and he fol- 
lowed this with permission to use their own fishing boats 
as long as they did not aid blockade-runners. A man in the 
crowd called out: "Captain, some of our boys [meaning 
negroes] have gone to your ship. Will they be given 
up ? " " No," replied the commander. " They have been 
used to transport soldiers and arms, in building fortifica- 
tions and a gunboat to be used against the United States. 
You will never get relief for their loss." ^ The marines 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, p. 203. 2 /^f^f.^ pp, 201-205. 

^N. Y. Herald, Apr. 21, 1862; Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, p. 76. 
* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, p. 203. 
^ N. Y. Herald, Apr. 21, 1862; Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, pp. 203-4. 



164 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

moved up the river, capturing a schooner loaded with cot- 
ton and a sloop loaded with coffee from Havana. The pilot 
boats in the harbor were burned and the Federal force with- 
drew to their ships at sea/ 

This comparatively unimportant affair at Apalachicola 
alarmed the people of the lower Chattahoochee valley. The 
town of Columbus, Georgia, reluctantly made common 
cause with the governor of Florida in preparations to de- 
fend the valley. The Columbus city council voted funds 
for obstructing navigation above Apalachicola.^ More than 
50,000 balejj of cotton were stored at Columbus ; 20,000 at 
the town of Eufaula, Alabama (on the Chattahoochee) ; 
and probably 10,000 bales at other points along the river.* 
Herds of cattle and cribs of corn in the valley of the Chatta- 
hoochee made that section important as a source of food 
supply. 

A powerful submerged boom was constructed across the 
Apalachicola river a few miles north of the town ; ten 
cannon were mounted behind earthworks at Ricco's Bluffs ; 
and the 6th Florida Infantry and Holland's Independent 
Florida Battalion were stationed there.* The valley of the 
Chattahoochee was in fact effectually barricaded for any 
but a formidable force. 

The next point to be abandoned by the Confederates was 
Pensacola. Governor Shorter, of Alabama, advised the war 
department to retain this port; and for its defense he had 
sent there from time to time more than 2,000 Alabama 
troops. The outlook for Pensacola in 1862 was gloomy. 
The saw-mills in the vicinity were closed. Logging oper- 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 286-288, 412. Naval War Reds., s. 
i, V. 17, pp. 201-205. 

' Off. Reds. Rebnll., s. i, v. 14, pp. 553, 686-7, 731, 735-6. 

^ Ibid., s. i, V. 53, sup., p. 237, estimate of Gen. Finegan (C. S. A.)- 

* Ibid., s. i, V. 6, pp. 848, 853, 862, 870, 871. 



FEDERAL INVASION 1 65 

ations had ceased. Here as in the other coast towns many 
people had moved away. " There is much anxiety among 
our citizens," reported one inhabitant. " Merchants are 
packing up and famihes are leaving." ^ Bad characters 
took advantage of the absence of men from home to steal 
or bully a living from unprotected families. Late in March, 
1862, Colonel Jones, commanding at Barrancas, declared by 
proclamation that 

there are certain hungry, worthless people, white as well as 
colored, who frequent Pensacola and vicinity and who have 
no observable occupation. Their intentions may be honest, but 
the colonel commanding does not believe it, and as he has no 
use for their presence they are warned to leave or the conse- 
quences must be on their own heads. The gallows is erected 
at Pensacola and will be in constant use after the 3d of April, 
1862. The town is under complete martial law.^ 

Preparations to abandon Pensacola included the destruc- 
tion of much private property. On March 7th, 1862, Colonel 
John Beard, of the Confederate army at Pensacola, was or- 
dered to " destroy every foot of lumber, all saw-mills, boats, 
etc.," in the vicinity of Pensacola. " Everything which 
might be of service to the enemy," ran his instructions, " in 
order that if we are forced to abandon this place nothing 
of value will fall into the hands of the enemy." ^ 

On March nth, before daybreak. Colonel Beard and a 
company of infantry set out from Pensacola for the work of 
destruction. By daylight the mills of Wm. Miller on East 

' Mobile Register, quoted in N. Y. Times, Mch. 28, 1862. See also 
correspondence of Bragg and Jones, Off. Reds. Rehell., s. 1, v. 6. pp. 
83s, 838, 841, 846, 857. N. Y. Herald, Mch. 12, Apr. 21, 1862. 

^ Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, p. 72. 

» Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, p. 846. 



l66 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

bay were afire. At Milton, Bluff Springs, Bagdad and 
many other places along the Blackwater and Escambia 
rivers property was burned — saw-mills, lumber, warehouses, 
naval stores, boats, two Confederate gun-boats, and forage, 
clothing and food supplies not absolutely necessary for the 
life of the inhabitants. Booms were cut and rafts of timber 
set adrift. Beard reported a " loyal spirit " among the 
people. Certainly this was a terrible ordeal for some. They 
saw their worldly wealth disappear in smoke and ashes — a 
sacrifice to the Confederacy. Whatever were the true sen- 
timents of the unfortunates, they failed to leave record of 
such decidedly anti-Confederate sentiments as did the 
property holders in East Florida.^ 

Two months passed before the Confederate troops finally 
evacuated Pensacola. When Colonel Thomas Jones took 
command at Barrancas on March 9th, his instructions were 
to remove as rapidly as possible all machinery and other 
movable property from the navy-yard.^ For two months 
this removal slowly proceeded. On receipt of news that a 
Federal fleet had passed the batteries below New Orleans, 
Jones at once began the removal of his heaviest artillery.' 
General Robert E. Lee, commanding the department includ- 
ing Florida, ordered him to shift his entire force to Mobile 
if that point was threatened by the Federal fleet.* Late in 
the afternoon of May 7th a dispatch reached Jones that the 
fleet had appeared off Mobile and that the forts had been 
fired on. The moment for quitting Pensacola had arrived.' 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 849, 856, 859-60; N. Y. Times, Apr. 
19, 1862. Milton Papers, memorandum of property destroyed. 

* Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 6, pp. 660, 841, 848. 856. 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 18, pp. 482-486 (Report of Jones). 

* Off. Reds. Rehell., s. i, v. 6, p. 824. 

* Ibid., p. 660. 



FEDERAL INVASION i^y 

The 8th Mississippi Infantry set out for Mobile early the 
next morning, and the three companies of cavalry and two 
companies of infantry remaining began the removal of the 
sick and the camp baggage to Oak Field — six miles north 
of Pensacola. After nightfall on May 9th the infantry 
began its march to Oak Field and the cavalry prepared to 
begin the destruction of the property about their abandoned 
fortifications. 

" Precisely at 1 1 130 o'clock, when everything was per- 
fectly quiet, both on the enemy's side and ours, the most 
painful office it was ever my duty to perform fell to my lot; 
namely, the signalling for the destruction of the beautiful 
place which I had labored so hard night and day to defend," 
reported Colonel Jones/ Two rockets were set off at 
the Marine Hospital (situated between the navy-yard and 
Barrancas). Scarcely had the thin blue flame of the rock- 
ets disappeared ere the public buildings, camp tents and 
every combustible thing from the navy-yard to McRee were 
enveloped in flames. Oil and grease and gunpowder had 
been spread about. " The scene was grand and sublime," 
wrote one correspondent. " The Bay was as light as mid- 
day while the murky clouds overhead reflected back an ap- 
parently liquid sea of fire." ^ The reflection of the con- 
flagration was seen by the blockading squadron out at sea. 
" At two A. M.," wrote Admiral Porter, " a brilliant light 
illumined the sky." ^ 

A few minutes later and those at the yard saw the flames 
of burning property at Pensacola. The Federal batteries 
on Santa Rosa island opened on the burning barracks and 
forts opposite — the object being, probably, to prevent the 
spread of the flames. At Pensacola the destruction was 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 18, pp. 482-486. 

^ Moore, Retell. Red., v. 5, p. 48, from Mobile Register. 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 18, p. 479. 



l68 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

confined to the quarter-master's storehouses, an oil fac- 
tory, and two steamers. All telegraph wires and poles 
were pulled down. A river steamer loaded with machinery 
and stores was sent up the Escambia river and her captain 
was ordered to obstruct the river with timber and debris 
to prevent pursuit.^ 

Next morning. May loth, acting-Mayor Brosenham sur- 
rendered the town to the Federal authorities.' An officer 
with a small guard had been sent there from Fort Pickens 
soon after daybreak. " The town appeared to be deserted. 
Grass was growing in the street and everything was wear- 
ing a sad and forlorn appearance." ^ A few hours later the 
warship Harriet Lane, with Commander David Porter 
aboard, steamed into the harbor. Mr. Brosenham went 
aboard and assured the commander that the people of Pen- 
sacola would respect Federal authority.* There was no 
other reasonable course left open. 

Formal military possession of the town was taken next 
day (May nth) by Brigadier-General Arnold and several 
companies of Federal troops. The soldiers stood in hollow 
square about the flag-staff in the center of the Plaza as the 
United States flag went up. General Arnold settled himself 
comfortably in the home of Colonel Chase, who had fled 
from Pensacola, and Colonel Wilson, of the New York 
Zouaves, made his headquarters in the home of Secretary 
Mallory of the Confederate navy.^ Proclamations were 

^ Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 660-665; A'^. Y. Herald, May 19, 
1862; A^. Y. Tribune, May 22, 1862. 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 18, p. 480 ; Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 6, 
p. 658. 

' .V. Y. Herald, May 19, 1862 ; N. Y. Tribune, May 22, 1862 ; Moore, 
Rebell. Red., v. 5, passim. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 18, p. 480. 

• iV. Y. Times, May ?, 1862 (Townsend Lib., Columbia University). 



FEDERAL INVASION 169 

posted about the town setting forth the duty of " good 
and loyal " citizens/ Most of the Southern sympathizers 
here as in East Florida had departed with their negroes and 
other movable property before the Federal troops arrived/ 

Pensacola, Fernandina, and St. Augustine passed per- 
manently into Union hands in 1862, They were occupied 
by Union troops for the rest of the war. Jacksonville, 
however, was abandoned a week after its capture in April.* 
General Sherman stated that the sole object in occupying 
the town was political.* When the Federal house of repre- 
sentatives requested Secretary Stanton to give an explana- 
tion of the sudden abandonment of Jacksonville, that offi- 
cial refused for reasons " not compatible with the public 
interest." ^ The withdrawal of the military was a serious 
reverse for the Union men of the town. They departed 
with the troops. Some fifty or sixty went to New York 
City and the public press took up their case so piteously that 
the city council voted $1,000 for their immediate relief.® 

Six months after its abandonment by the Union army, 
Jacksonville was re-occupied, but only for a short time.'' 
The expedition left Hilton Head, South Carolina, on Sep- 
tember 30th, 1862.^ It consisted of the 47th Pennsylvania 
and 7th Connecticut Infantry, one section of the ist Con- 
necticut Light Artillery, and a detachment of the ist Massa- 
chusetts Cavalry — in all 1,573 nien. They were aboard 

> Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 6, p. 659; .V. Y. Herald, June i, 1862. 

* A^. Y. Times, Mch. 22, June 2, 1862. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, pp. 124-127. 

* Letter to Phil. Frazer, N. Y. Ev. Express, July, 1862 (Townsend 
Library). 

' Rpt. of Stanton, A''. F. Herald, Apr. 30, 1862. 

« N. Y. Herald, Apr. 22, 1862; Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 6, p. 125. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 14, p. 127. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 13, p. 357. 



lyo RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

four transports and convoyed by six gunboats.^ The fleet 
entered the St. Johns river on the afternoon of October 
ist.== 

A Confederate force was stoutly entrenched at St. Johns 
Bluff on the south side of the river between Jacksonville 
and the sea. Under the direction of General Finegan ten 
guns — taken probably from Fort Clinch — had been mounted 
on the bluffs early in September.^ The Federal gunboats 
engaged the batteries on the afternoon of October ist. At 
night troops were put ashore between the batteries and the 
sea. The next day (October 2nd) the Union forces ad- 
vanced upon the Confederate works by flank and rear. The 
country was swampy, overgrown with brush, and inter- 
laced with small creeks and bayous. This made a rapid 
movement impossible and prevented the effective use of 
field artillery. But the attacking land force had the help 
of war-ships and the Confederates were only about 500 
strong and poorly equipped.* After some sharp skirmish- 
ing with the Federal advance guard the garrison hastily 
withdrew from its position on St. Johns Bluff, already 
under bombardment by the gunboats.^ The retiring troops 
were threatened in rear by the Federal army and in front 
by the navy. They left their batteries and magazines prac- 
tically intact. " I am utterly at a loss to account for the 
sudden evacuation," reported the Federal commander.® 
General Finegan of the Confederate army himself ex- 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 14, p. 129. Commander Chas. Steedman 
led this expedition. 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 13, p. 362. 
» Ibid., pp. 326, 357. 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 14, pp. 129, 138, 139. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 13, pp. 356, 362. St. Johns Bluff was oc- 
cupied October 3rd, p. 363. 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i. v. 14, p. 127. 



FEDERAL INVASION 171 

pressed the opinion that the garrison at St. Johns Bluff was 
sufficiently strong to have held the place. 

After the Confederate evacuation of the bluff. Federal 
troops moved cautiously toward Jacksonville. The gun- 
boats advanced up the river shelling the shore at intervals. 
The invaders met with no opposition. One detachment 
came upon a hastily evacuated camp with " a sumptous meal 
already prepared for eating." In the center of the table 
was a meat pie, still warm. Another detachment entered 
a small camp as its occupants sought the woods, leaving be- 
hind them fifty stands of arms. The few Confederate 
troops seemed demoralized and surprised.^ 

On October 3rd, a detachment of Union troops entered 
Jacksonville.^ Many of its inhabitants had left. Its busi- 
ness was dead. The people in the St. Johns valley already 
were " living in a most destitute condition." ^ 

As long as St. Johns Bluff and the river were held by 
Federal forces, Jacksonville could be re-occupied at pleas- 
ure. Therefore, after ruthless raiding and burning by 
troops on gunboats for 200 miles up the St. Johns river,* 
the town was again deserted by Federal troops, who carried 
away with them a few negroes and a few white refugees.^ 
A small garrison was left at St. Johns Bluff and the Federal 
war-ships patrolled the mouth of the river. 

The following spring (March, 1863), Jacksonville was a 
third time occupied by Federal troops. They came to col- 
lect negro recruits, to plunder, and probably to inaugurate 

^ Oif. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 14, p. 133. 
"^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 13, p. 363. 
' Ibid., p. 369. 
*Ihid., pp. 361, 366-371. 

^ N. Y. Herald, Oct. 19, 1862; Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 13, pp. 368, 
etc. 



172 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

some vague plans of " loyal " political reconstruction.^ " It 
was urged that it was worth while to risk something in the 
effort to hold Florida," stated Colonel Higginson, com- 
manding the expedition — " and perhaps bring it back into 
the Union," he added.^ The invading military consisted of 
two regiments of negro troops.^ Two weeks later this 
force was reinforced by the 6th Connecticut and 8th 
Maine.* 

" At two the next morning we steamed up the river " 
(St. Johns), writes Higginson of this expedition. 

Again there was the dreamy delight of ascending an unknown 
stream beneath a sinking moon into a region where peril made 
fascination. . . . We aimed to reach Jacksonville at daybreak, 
. . . but we had several hours of fresh early sunshine lighting 
up the green shores of that lovely river. . . . Here and there 
we glided by the ruins of some saw-mill burned by the Confed- 
erates on General Wright's approach ; but nothing else spoke of 
war except perhaps the silence. It was a delicious day and a 
scene of fascination. Our Florida men were wild with delight, 
and when we rounded the point below the town and saw from 
afar its long streets, its brick warehouses, its white cottages, and 
its over-shadowing trees — all peaceful and undisturbed by flames 
— it seemed in the men's phrase " too much good," and all 
discipline was merged for a moment in a buzz of ecstasy. . . . 
There were children playing on the wharves ; careless men, 
here and there, lounging down to look at us, hands in pockets ; 
a few women came to their doors and gazed listlessly upon us, 
shading tlieir eyes with their hands. ^ 

1 017. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 14, pp. 191, 195; Civil War Papers, v. 2, 
p. 468, Higginson. A^. Y. Times, Mch. 22, 1862. 

" Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment, p. 134. 

' The 1st and 2nd S. C. Colored Infantry, partly recruited in Flor- 
ida, see Civil War Papers, v. 2; Higginson, Army Life in a Black 
Regiment. 

* Moore, Retell. Red., v. 6, pp. 482-5. 

^ Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment, pp. 139-142. 



FEDERAL INVASION 



17: 



The country adjacent to Jacksonville was raided by the 
negro troops. Private dwellings were sacked and the in- 
mates abused. Sharp skirmishes were fought at several 
points with Confederate cavalry, aroused to a high pitch of 
desperation at the raiding of the blacks.^ But as neither 
plunder nor negroes were found in sufficient quantity, and 
as Union sentiment was practically non-existent outside of 
Union lines and deserters' camps, for a third time Federal 
troops prepared to abandon Jacksonville. 

March 31st. A "fine south wind was blowing," as the 
first troops prepared to embark.' Suddenly fiames burst 
from several points in the town, and immediately the hood- 
lums among the Federal soldiers began sacking private 
dwellings, dilapidated stores, and churches. A mob of 
drunken soldiers burst into the Catholic church which was 
afllame and several reeled out with the pipes of the demol- 
ished organ. Down the street swept the mob, some good- 
naturedly cursing, some hurrahing, and some blowing 
through the organ pipes. By the end of the second day's 
looting at least a third of the town was in ashes. ^ The 
guilt for beginning this vandalism — this example of what 
Vattel terms " savage and monstrous excess " * — rests 
mostly with the soldiers of the 6th Connecticut and 8th 
Maine — white troops, and not with the negroes. The whites 
led in plundering. " When evacuating Jacksonville in East 

^ See Mrs. Dickison's Dickison and His Men, passim. Capt. Dickison 
was one of the most remarkable guerilla leaders of the Civil War. 
Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 14, pp. 232, 238, 239, 860, 861. A^. Y. Times, 
Mch. 22, 1863. 

* Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 6, p. 483. 

' Moore, Rehell. Red., v. 6, p. 483 ; N. Y. Herald, Apr. 27, 1863, con- 
taining an excerpt from Lake City Columbian with inventory of prop- 
erty destroyed. A''. Y. Herald, Apr. 8, 1863 ; A''. Y. Tribune, Apr. 8, 
1863 ; N. Y. World, Apr. 9, 1863. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 28, pt. 2, p. 12. 



174 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



Florida your troops set on fire and destroyed the larger part 
of that town, including several churches," wrote Beaure- 
gard to Gillmore, "not assuredly to cover their embarkation 
but merely as a measure of vindictive and illegitimate hos- 
tility." ^ This burning was probably induced by a desire to 
" pay back " the Confederate sympathizers for the burn- 
ings perpetrated by the Confederate irregular cavalry dur- 
ing the previous spring. Union men had suffered then. 

The Federal force quit Jacksonville on the 2nd of April, 
while a part of the town was still blazing. " It made our 
sorrow at departure no less," wrote Thomas Wentworth 
Higginson, colonel of the First South Carolina Blacks, 
" though it infinitely enhanced the impressiveness of the 
scene. . . . The sight and roar of the flames and the rolling 
clouds of smoke, brought home to the impressible minds of 
the black soldiers all their favorite imagery of the Judgment 
Day." ^ As the ships bearing the departing military passed 
out of the St. Johns, they were rocked in a heavy north- 
easter which brought a cloud of rain. It was the south 
wind that had spread the flames and aided the would-be 
destroyers of Jacksonville, and a rain-storm from the North 
that finally extinguished the smoking cinders of burned 
homes. ^ 

^Off. Reds. Rehell., s. i, v. 28. pt. 2. p. 11. 
' Life in a Black Regiment, ?. 175. 
» A". Y. Herald, Apr. S. 27. 1863. 



CHAPTER VIII 
Economic Adjustment to the War 

Secession did not produce remarkable change in the 
fonn of Southern state governments. Transposition from 
the Federal Union to the new Confederate union was ac- 
complished simply, directly, adroitly, not only without great 
change in actual constitutions, but also without much ex- 
perimentation and almost without blunders. Carried for- 
ward on the verge of war, it was a political performance 
which merits critical admiration — not so much for what 
was done as for what was not done. The severing of 
strong political bonds, the establishment of independent 
states, and the organization of the Confederacy demon- 
strated well the native political sagacity and wise conser- 
vatism of the American politician upholding a radical cause. 
Probably the very dangers of war made the work of leaders 
easier and forced them to be careful. There was oneness 
of aim. 

The record of state and Confederate legislation after 
war became an accomplished fact fails to show such politi- 
cal wisdom or success. The American publicist is pecu- 
liarly efficient in devising and becoming content with a 
written constitution, probably because the making of such 
documents is a proud tradition, or because Americans read- 
ily agree that a certain very definite type of government is 
necessarily the best. Accepted sine qua nons thus make 
them rapid and smooth constitutional organizers. Now in 
legislation and administration the American is less apt than 

175 



1^6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

in the other capacity. War-time legislation in the South 
was in part experimental. Some of it was clearly vision- 
ary, and much of it was unsuccessful, though well meant. 
Neither was there oneness of aim among legislators, jurists, 
and administrators. Florida was no exception to the rule. 
Law-making there played its part in the economic adjust- 
ment which began with the war. 

Early in 1861 (Jan.-Feb.), the secession convention and 
the legislature by ordinance and statute provided for some 
of the exigencies of the moment. In this legislation a num- 
ber of enactments reflect the change that had taken place. 
Several new financial and industrial institutions were in- 
corporated with an expanded capitalization for Florida.^ 
A system of state circuit courts was created and the pend- 
ing cases in the disestablished Federal courts were trans- 
ferred to these new courts.^ All processes at law in state 
courts for debts were arrested until the first Monday of 
1862.^ Provision was made for the representation of the 
state in the Confederate provisional government. Money 
was issued by the state. Such measures logically followed 
the secession of Florida from the Union, and though re- 
sorted to in the face of impending war they were not 
strictly war measures. 

* Laws of Florida, loth session, chap. 1142, Planters and Merchants 
Bank of Pensacola, capital up to $1,000,000.00; chap. 1144, Bank of 
Apalachicola, capital up to $300,000.00; chap. 1145, Bank of Lake City, 
capital up to $500,000.00; chap. 1146. Bank of Tallahassee, capital up 
to $500,000.00; chap. 1 147, Bank of Fernandina, capital up to $500,- 
000.00; chap. 1 151, Lake City and Blount Ferry Railroad Co.. capital 
$200,000.00; chap. 1150, Alachua County R. R. Co., capital $200,000.00; 
Western R. R. Co., capital $1,000,000.00. 

'Laws of Florida, loth sess., chap. 1108; 12th sess., chap. 1354. 

* Laws of Florida, loth sess., chap. 1136, providing for stay in execu- 
tion till the first Monday in 1862; nth sess., chap. 1271, for stay in 
execution till 12 months after peace; chap. 1129, and nth sess., chap. 
1284, cancelling debts owed to alien enemies. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 177 

As the war progressed ; as thousands of the best citi- 
zens marched out of the state to the Confederate armies 
on the firing line ; as Federal troops invaded ; as the cordon 
of the Federal blockade fleet became tighter; as the food 
supply of Florida diminished perceptibly; as rich sections 
were laid waste by raiders; as financial confusion in Flor- 
ida and the entire Confederacy became more pronounced; 
as securities steadily fell in value; as private business in- 
terests tried, by fair means and foul, to adjust themselves 
to the abnormal conditions ; as fast disappearing Confed- 
erate armies fought out stubbornly the issue which was 
the reason for the Confederacy's being — as these conditions 
developed with kaleidoscopic rapidity, the state legislature 
attempted to rise to the occasion with arbitrary, restrictive 
or paternal laws. Such legislation was a response to the 
conditions of actual war. 

One of the immediate tasks which confronted the people 
of Florida in 1861 was the quick raising of money to sup- 
port the government. The expansion of state credit at- 
tempted was based principally on state lands. These lands 
were either pledged for the redemption of notes and bonds 
or were purchasable with the notes. The amount of land 
held by the state was hugely increased on secession by the 
appropriation of Federal lands.^ 

The two forms of security issued by the government in 
expanding the state's credit were treasury notes and 8 per 
cent twenty-year bonds. On January 14th, 1861, four days 

^ Governor's Message, Nov. 21, 1864, Milton Papers. 1,300,000 
acres of public land were pledged for the redemption of Treasury 
notes issued up to that time. Sp. Rpt. Register Public Lands, Nov. 
22, 1862, Sen. Journal, p. 100. The public land derived on seces- 
sion from the U. S. by the state of Florida amounted to 7,653,953 
acres. By ordinance No. 49 of the convention of 1861 the valuation 
of this land ranged from $1.00 to 10 cents per acre. Later laws 
changed the valuation of the land. 



1^8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

after secession, the governor was authorized by law to issue 
$500,000 in treasury notes — to be used as money and to 
be received by the state for all dues, including the pur- 
chase price of public land. On the same day the legislature 
authorized the issue of $500,000 in bonds as described, 
pledging the honor of the state for the payment of the in- 
terest/ The bonds did not have a ready sale and the state 
government applied to the banks for a temporary loan as 
a supplement to its treasury notes in order to meet the press- 
ing needs of the moment.^ 

The constitutional convention which reassembled in the 
spring of 1861 tried to improve the character of the bonds 
and at the same time it debased the value of the treasury 
notes. It authorized the governor to substitute for the 
bonds already authorized, 8 per cent twenty-year coupon 
bonds expressly secured by the income from the sale of 
public land. The convention instructed the register of lands 
to receive only gold or silver coin for public land. Thus 
the acts of the legislature and the ordinances of the 
convention were in conflict. The convention's withhold- 
ing lands from the purchaser with treasury notes lowered 
the value of the notes. ^ The following year (1862) the re- 
assembled convention repealed this particular ordinance, 
and once more the state accepted treasury notes for its 
land.* 

The government was aided in the preliminary financial 
operations by the banks. On the secession of Florida from 
the Union in 1861 there were within the state thirteen 

* Laws of Florida, loth sess., Feb. 14, 1861. 

2 Schwab, J. C, The Confederate States of America, p. 306. 
8 Governor's Message, Nov. 21, 1862, Milton Papers. 

* Thomas, David Y., " Florida Finances in the Civil War," Yale Re- 
view, Nov., 1907, p. 315. Prof. Thomas' article is of considerable 
value. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 



179 



banking houses. Only three of these — the most important 
— held charters from the state. The aggregate capital stock 
of the three was $350,000.^ The other ten banks were de- 
nominated " private banks ". Little is known of their con- 
dition or operations. Both state and private banks sus- 
pended specie payment before the outbreak of war. This 
step was taken without the express authority of law. The 
legislature at its December session in 1861 provided by sta- 
tute for the suspension of specie payments by the banks 
during the war. The avowed object of the law was to " re- 
lieve the community " and to afford " a safe, adequate and 
reliable currency ".^ For a year following secession bank 
notes constituted a considerable part of the state's cur- 
rency. 

The practical working of these state financial measures 
was not satisfactory. The bonds could not be readily sold, 
which left treasury notes as the main immediate resource 
of the state. ^ To sustain the value of these notes became 
a matter of grave importance. With them principally the 
state must pay its outstanding debts, meet its current ex- 
penses, pay its soldiers in the field, support its poor at home, 
and contribute its part to the Confederate direct war tax 
of 1 86 1. To declare nonchalantly that notes be issued and 

^ Report of Comptroller to House on condition of banks in Florida, 
House Journal, Jan. 21-26, 1861. The official reports of the three 
state banks : " Bank of Florida ", " Bank of St. Johns ", and " Bank 
of Fernandina ", all indicate a sound condition. Thomas, op. cit. 

''Laws of Florida, nth sess., Dec. 14, 1861. Schwab, J. C, op. cit., 
p. 130. 

* State taxes remained at the same figure during the war that they 
had been in times of peace — one-sixth of one per cent, yielding in 
the neighborhood of $140,000 a year. Expenditures each year by the 
slate were more than $500,000. The state tried to shift the burden of 
extraordinary expenses to the future. Taxes were paid slowly. In 
Dec, 1861, the collection of taxes for 1860-61 was suspended. Gov- 
ernor's Message, Nov. 21, 1861, Milton Papers. 



l8o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

to print them proved easy as long as the paper lasted; but 
to induce people to use them at their face value proved im- 
possible. 

The legislature tried to uphold the value of its notes by- 
law. It provided that the notes of solvent banks which re- 
ceived treasury notes at par would be received for taxes, 
and that all state taxation on such banks would be sus- 
pended. Those banks which did not receive treasury notes 
at par were forbidden to issue notes smaller than $20. oo.'^ 
Florida paid its entire direct contribution to the Confed- 
erate direct war tax in December, 1861, with treasury notes 
—$225,374.11.^ 

The appearance of Confederate treasury notes as a circu- 
lating medium had a marked effect upon state finance. 
Confederate notes were worth less than state notes — which 
were secured by land — and accordingly Confederate notes 
began to flow into the state treasury. People paid their 
taxes in the cheaper money. ^ The legislature tried to curb 
this " unpatriotic discrimination " against Confederate 
notes by declaring that all discrimination against these 
notes was "traitorous" and by providing that no one should 
be exempted from military service who was found guilty 
of such practice.* The legislature's efforts were of little 

* Thomas, op. cit. 

2 Laws of Florida, nth sess., Dec. 16, 1862. Milton to Boston (Con- 
fed. Tax Collector, Savannah), July 23, 1862; Sparnish (Chief Clk. Con- 
fed. War Dept.) to Memminger (Sect. Treas.), July 18, 1862, Milton 
Papers. Final payment made July 23rd. This amount varies from 
that given by Prof. Schwab in his Confederate States ($226,109.88), 
p. 288. 

* Governor's Message, Nov. 21, 1864, Milton Papers. The Governor 
stated that although the state paid out " a large amount " of notes, 
very few came back to the treasury except in the purchase of land. 
Almost all taxes and other dues were paid in Confederate currency. 

* Laws of Florida, Dec. 3, i853. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR igj 

avail. The progress of the war showed a steady falling-off in 
the value of Florida securities, augmented by the continual 
issue of treasury notes and sympathetic decline with Con- 
federate currency and securities/ By the close of 1862 
bank notes had practically disappeared from circulation.^ 
Each session of the legislature from 1861 to 1865 wit- 
nessed a heavy authorization of treasury notes. 

The amount of treasury notes authorized by the legisla- 
ture of Florida while that state was out of the Union was 
$2,450,000; of bonds $500,000.^ It is impossible to-day 
to compute with accuracy how much of this authorized 
amount was actually issued. More than $2,239,640 were 
put in circulation.* On the collapse of the Confederacy 
in 1865, $1,800,000 notes were outstanding in circulation 
and $300,000 bonds had been sold. This was the war debt 
of the state in 1865." 

* Governor's Message, Nov. 21, 1864, Milton Papers, For discussion 
of entire South see Schwab, The Confederate States, passim. 

' Thomas, op. cit. 

'Laws of Florida, loth sess. (Feb. 14, 1861), chap. 1097: $500,000 
in treasury notes issued in denominations of 1-2-3-4-5-10-20-50- and 100 
dollars. The notes were legal tender for taxes, fines, debts, pubHc 
lands, etc. They were beautifully engraved on a good quality of 
paper. The work was probably done beyond the state, nth sess. 
(Dec, 1861), chap. 1297, $500,000 for payment of war tax to Confed- 
erate government (see Governor's Message, Nov., 1862), 12th sess. 
(Dec, 1862), chap. 1372, $300,000 in same denominations as first issue. 
I2th sess. (Dec. 6, 1862), chap. 1337, $200,000 expressly for relief of 
soldiers' families. 12th sess., chap. 1420, $300,000 expressly for relief 
of soldiers' families. 13th se&s. (Dec, 1864), $300,000 issued expressly 
for soldiers' families. 13th sess. (Dec. 7, 1864), chap. 1463, $350,000, 
public lands expressly pledged for the redemption of this issue. Bonds 
Law of Feb., 1861, chap. 1141 — 20-year 8 per cent imerest payable semi- 
annually. 

* Thomas, op. cit. 

^Governor's Message, Nov. 21, 1862; Milton to Boston (collector), 
July 23, 1862; Sparnish to Memminger, July 18, 1862; Memminger to 



l82 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The extraordinary confusion accompanying secession 
and war produced a scarcity of currency, particularly frac- 
tional currency — coins and small bills. Railroads and other 
corporations began to issue their notes for small amounts 
early in 1861. Employees were paid in this "railroad 
money " or " change bills " which for a time passed as cur- 
rency at a discount. In order to furnish much-needed small 
change, towns began to issue by the second year of war 
fractional paper currency in small amounts, termed " shin 
plasters ".^ Pensacola was empowered by law in December, 
1861, to issue $25,000 in small bills, which when issued 
passed as currency and for the redemption of which the 
faith and resources of the city were pledged.^ 

To recapitulate the war-time currency situation in Flor- 
ida : secession and war produced really four new sorts of 
currency, namely, state treasury notes. Confederate treas- 
ury notes, corporation notes, and fractional paper notes of 
municipalities. Bank notes circulating before 1861 consti- 
tuted another form of money. Specie was very scarce. 
The legislature attempted to force up the value of state 
notes by penalizing banks discriminating against them; to 
force up the value of Confederate notes by penalizing indi- 
viduals who discriminated against them; and in December, 
1861, by a drastic law to force out of circulation corpora- 
tion currency bills of denominations less than $5.^ Be- 

Milton, Apr. 17, 1862, Milton Papers. State Treas. and Comptr.'s Rpts. 
for 1862 and 1864, A''. Y. World, Nov. 17, 1865. Report of Finance 
Committee in the state convention. This body reported the outstand- 
ing bonds to be $300,000, in addition to which $70,000 in bonds of 
an issue prior to the war was outstanding: see Treas. and Comptr.'s 
Rpt., 1864. 

' Thomas, op. cit. 

• Laws of Florida, nth sess., Dec. 17, 1861. Schwab, op. cit., pp. 154- 
155- 
^ Laws of Florida, loth sess., Feb. 14, 1861 ; nth sess., Dec. 13, 1861. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 183 

fore the end of the war state and Confederate treasury 
notes were practically the only circulating media — both 
at an enormous discount under gold. 

The decline in the value of state securities encouraged 
some people to speculate heavily in public lands. With 
depreciated currency they purchased at the monetary rate 
fixed by law and then sold or hypothecated at a higher fig- 
ure.^ This was by no means the only form of speculation 
flagrant during the war. The drain of supplies from the 
state for the Confederate army, the interruption in planting 
due to the war, and the success of the Federal blockade pro- 
duced a steady decrease in the necessities of life, and this 
increasing scarcity made it more easy than it would have 
been otherwise for speculators to realize big profits.^ 

The legislature and the governor tried to combat specu- 
lation. They believed its ramifications touched evilly agri- 
culture at home and commerce abroad, and before the war 
was half over they declared that it made difificult the pur- 
chase or impressment of supplies for the army ; and that it 
sometimes prevented absolutely the purchase of supplies 
for the support of soldiers' families within the state. 

In November, 1861, a law was enacted that forbade the 
export from the state of any beef cattle, dried or pickled 
beef, hogs, pork, bacon, corn, corn-meal, salt, or provisions 
of any kind. The legal maximum price for all articles and 
commodities was fixed at 33 per cent over cost and charges. 
Speculation was declared unlawful beyond the 33 per cent 

* Governor's Message, Nov. 21, 1864, Milton Papers. Laws of Flor- 
ida, I2th sess., Dec, 1862, chap. 1367. 

^ Milton to Seddon, Jan. 11, 1864, for instance, Milton Papers. Many 
references to speculation in sources of this period. Milton spoke of 
the " widespread desire for speculation. . . . Notwithstanding alleged 
depreciation of currency people of all ages and conditions seem wild 
in its accumulation." 



184 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

mark. The governor was authorized to appropriate pro- 
visions and suppHes for the state at a just price, when he 
should consider it necessary. A $1,000 fine was fixed for 
those found guilty of violating the act. For conviction of 
having conspired to form a monopoly of any commodity 
the punishment was to be $1,000 fine and one year's im- 
prisonment. The judges of the circuit courts were directed 
to charge the grand jurors to take into consideration such 
offenses.^ 

The convention of 1862 repealed the act of the legis- 
lature attempting to restrain monopoly. " Immediately the 
flood-gates of villainy were opened," wrote Governor 
Milton. The legislature again stepped into the breach. A 
law of December, 1862, declared that 

if any person shall purchase any article of clothing, shoes, 
leather, cloth, provisions, wheat, flour, meat, salt, bagging, 
rope, etc., and shall falsely represent that he is purchasing 
such for the soldiers of the government, he shall be guilty of 
a felony and, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprison- 
ment for not less than one or more than three years ; that all 
persons who shall monopolize any of the above articles with 
intent to produce a scarcity in the market or of raising the 
price shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, 
shall be fined not less than $500 or more than $5,000 ; that 
if any of the above things be done by a corporation, then 
the president and directors of the corporation shall be liable 
to be severally indicted and punished. 

Circuit judges were again directed to call the attention of 
grand juries to this act.^ Legislation such as this was ob- 
viously difficult to enforce. Unlawful speculation and dis- 

^ Laws of Florida, nth sess., Nov. and Dec, 1861, chapts. 1258 and 
1283. 

' Laws of Florida, 12th sess., Dec. 10, 1862. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 185 

honest practice in trade continued to be prevalent because 
it yielded a round profit. Statutes cannot change human 
nature, and at that time they could neither raise the block- 
ade nor stop the war. 

During the four years of war the expenditures of the 
Florida government increased enormously. The budget 
of i860 was less than $150,000. The yearly budgets 
while Florida was out of the Union averaged more than 
$500,000. The principal objects of this extraordinary or 
war-time expenditure were: ist, supplies for state troops; 
2nd, the payment of Florida's quota to the Confederate di- 
rect tax of 1861 ; 3rd, supplies for soldiers' families and 
indigent within the state; 4th, the maintenance of hospitals 
at home and abroad for Florida troops. 

To meet this increased expense the state government 
did not raise its tax rate, but issued treasury notes. It 
tried to shift to the future the burden of the present.^ 
The property tax rate of the state remained the same for 
the war — one-sixth of one per cent — and yielded less than 
in time of peace, because, ist, people were slower in paying 
their taxes than in times of peace; 2nd, the state legisla- 
ture in December, 1861, suspended until the following year 
the payment of taxes for 1860-61.^ However, many of 
the county and town rates throughout the state increased. 
Communities more than ever found themselves forced to 
help the poverty-stricken and indigent at home; and their 
soldiers in distant armies needed aid. 

But the people of Florida felt in another way the new 
burden which the war created. The Confederacy's finan- 
cial system soon directly touched the wealth of the Con- 
federacy's citizens. Taxation by the central government 

' This was the policy of government throughout the South. See 
Schwab, op. cit., pp. 285-90, and elsewhere. 
-Laws of Florida, nth sess., Dec. 13, 1861. 



l86 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

rested fundamentally upon three statutes: namely, ist, the 
Direct Tax Act of 1861 ; 2nd, the Impressment Act of 
March 26th, 1863; 3rd, the General Tax Act of April 24th, 

1863. 

The first measure, amounting to a tax of one-half of 
one per cent upon all real and personal property within the 
various states, was shifted in Florida from the individual 
to the state government by an issue of state treasury notes. 

The second measure, the Impressment Act, was not 
technically a tax law, but in reality its character was then 
and is now patent. It proved a very effective and heavy 
form of taxation. Under it Confederate agents were au- 
thorized to impress food products and other forms of 
property useful to the army at prices arbitrarily fixed by 
" boards " created by the Confederate war department and 
the state governors. These boards published from time 
to time in the newspapers schedules of maximum prices 
which an impressing agent might pay. The scheduled 
prices were considerably less than the maiket prices. Com- 
missary impressing agents used large discretion in apply- 
ing the law in Florida. Their orders came from their 
state chief, and this chief tried to get out of the country 
what was necessary — which meant, toward the end of the 
war, all that he could. Corn, beef, pork, rice, potatoes 
peas, molasses, sugar, forage, etc., were " impressed " 
paid for in Confederate notes, and either sent at once from 
the state or collected in " commissary warehouse depots ' 
at various points in the state — Milton, Marianna, Quincy 
Tallahassee, Monticello, Baldwin, Starke, Gainesville 
Tampa. How much was " impressed " in Florida during 
the war? This leading question cannot be answered satis- 
factorily through lack of recorded evidence. 

The third Confederate tax to be noted — that levied 
by the law of April 24th, 1863 — was comprehensive 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 187 

in its scope. It authorized a yearly levy of eight 
per cent on the value of all naval stores, salt, wines, 
liquors, tobacco, cotton, wool, sugar, molasses, syrup 
or other agricultural products produced within the 
state, and on money in hand ; a license tax of from $50 
to $500 on various occupations, trades and professions — 
butchers, bakers, bankers, innkeepers, lawyers, doctors, etc.; 
an income tax of one per cent to fifteen per cent on all in- 
comes; a sales tax of ten per cent on all profits from the 
sale of provisions, iron, shoes, blankets, and cotton cloth ; 
and last but not least a tax in kind of one-tenth of all agri- 
cultural products. This last tax was known as the " Con- 
federate Tithe ". It yielded the Confederacy an immense 
amount of foodstuffs and cotton.^ 

The collection of Confederate taxes was entrusted to 
state tax collectors. Confederate commissary agents, and 
special impressing agents. The " Tithe " in cotton and 
tobacco was turned over to the Confederate treasury de- 
partment. The foodstuffs were collected in commissary 
depots for the army — where were stored also the " im- 
pressed " supplies. 

How much did Florida contribute in direct taxes to the 
Confederacy? Here too any answer must be unsatisfac- 
torily vague. Up to April ist, 1864, the approximate yield 
in Florida of the tax law of April 24th, 1863, was $1,000,- 
000 in Confederate currency. This did not include the 
"Tithe"." Both the "Tithe "'and the Confederate Im- 
pressment Act were pretty stringently enforced in Florida. 

' Schwab, J. C, op. cit., pp. 297-8. " The amount of produce col- 
lected by the tax in kind cannot be determined," says Prof. Schwab. 
N. C, Ga., and Ala. were the largest contributors. Considerably more 
than $12,000,000 worth of produce (estimated in gold at normal prices) 
was collected. 

" Ibid., p. 293. 



1 88 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

If the tithe law was thoroughly enforced and the produc- 
tivity of the state did not decrease, the yield to the Con- 
federate tax gatherers in Florida should have been agri- 
cultural produce valued at more than $1,000,000 in gold 
in normal times — about 300,000 bushels of corn annually, 
35,000 bushels of peas, 120,000 bushels of potatoes, 40,000 
gallons of molasses, 5,000 bales of cotton and one-tenth of 
the annual increase from 275,000 hogs, 400,000 head of 
cattle, 30,000 sheep, and 25,000 horses and mules. ^ But 
we know that agriculture changed greatly in character after 
1862 and steadily decreased in productiveness, and we know 
that the tithe was not perfectly enforced and that incom- 
plete records were kept of what was taken by the Confed- 
erate Government. Invading armies destroyed crops and 
private storehouses. Unpatriotic persons in the South 
dodged taxes when possible. These facts materially amend 
any a priori estimate based upon what the state ought to 
have yielded according to the census of i860. 

A considerable part of the state government's resources 
was expended for the care of soldiers' families that were in 
need of aid. The pathetic poverty of the poor white soon 
became painfully evident. The justices of the peace were 
required by law in 1862 to make lists of the families of 
Confederate soldiers and to forward these lists to the 
judges of probate, who in turn forwarded them to the 
comptroller of the state. The governor directed expendi- 
ture for the needy through either the boards of county 
commissioners or the judges of probate.^ The money went 
for clothing, food, salt, wool-cards, spinning wheels and 
other necessities. In 1862 the legislature put $20,000 in 
the hands of the governor to be expended for wool-cards 

' See U. S. Census, i860, passim. 

* Laws of Florida, 12th sess., 1862, chap. 1337. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 189 

alone/ During 1862-63-64, $1,200,000 were appropriated 
in treasury notes by the legislature for soldiers' families.^ 
Only a fraction of this amount was actually expended. 

During 1862-1863, Florida's soldiers' families receiv- 
ing state aid numbered 3,431 — composed of 11,744 per- 
sons. Only $186,639 were expended for this purpose by 
the state during this year. During 1863-64 there were 
3,633 families receiving aid, numbering 13,248 persons. 
$291,443 were expended.^ Florida had sent 12,000 or 
13,000 soldiers to the war. From these figures it is seen 
that the state government was contributing to the support 
of approximately one non-combatant for every soldier in 
the field. 

1863-64 witnessed a great increase in destitution over 
the record of the preceding year. But for the fact that the 
eastern portion of the state was in the hands of the enemy 
the amount expended would have been much larger. In 
practically every county receiving aid the increase was from 
75 per cent to 200 per cent in currency. Depreciation had 
much to do, however, with this increase in the number of 
dollars expended. In Alachua county, for instance, $8,000 
were expended in 1862-63; and $17,000 in 1863-64; in 
Jackson county, $9,000 in 1862-63, and $22,000 in 1863-64; 
in Leon county, $6,000 in 1862-63, and $12,000 in 1863-64; 
in Gadsden county, $7,000 in 1862-63, and $21,000 in 1863- 
1864.* 

^ Laws of Florida, 12th sess., Dec. 8, 1862, resolution No. 6, Quarter- 
Master General's (state) Rpt., Oct. 3, 1864. During this year (1864) 
2,500 wool-cards were distributed over the state by the government to 
aid the poor in spinning and weaving. 

' Laws of Florida, chapts. 1337, 1420, 1461. 

3 Florida Senate Journal, 1864, pp. 31, etc. It is not clear as to what 
currency this estimate of expenditure is computed in. 
^Florida Senate Journal, 1864, pp. 31, etc. 



igo RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The enforcement of the Confederate Impressment Act 
and the collection of the Confederate "Tithe" developed ras- 
cality, and was accompanied by friction between local and 
Confederate officials, and by more serious conflict between 
civil authority and military authority. The civil proved 
unable to have its will generally when in conflict with the 
military.^ 

Merchants traveled through Florida dishonestly claim- 
ing to be Confederate commissary agents with authority to 
" impress " supplies or to collect the *' Tithe ". This was 
plain rascality and is mentioned here because for a time it 
was prevalent in parts of the state. 

Commodities were seized on their way to market. The 
Florida legislature tried to remedy the situation by a law 
foi bidding the impressment of goods en route, and pro- 
viding for a speedy method of redress before state courts 
when property had been thus seized." 

County commissioners and judges of probate who were 
directed to purchase food for the destitute in their locali- 

^ Milton to Seddon, January ii, 1864. The county commis- 
sioners had no authority to impress supplies, as did the Confed- 
erate agents. Florida was divided into five commissary districts. 
In each district were several agents accountable to the commis- 
sary in chief for the state. The legal form served on those from 

whom supplies were desired was as follows : " Sir : The 

heads of beeves [or pounds of bacon, etc.] which you have on 
hand is needed for use in the armies of the Confederate States. 

For this purpose I will pay you at the rate of schedule 

price per . If this price is not satisfactory to you, compen- 
sation will be made according to the Act of Congress passed for 
the regulation of impressment, etc." See Milton Papers, Nov., 1863. 
Laws of Florida required the Confederate commissary for the state 
to notify the governor of all appointments of sub-agents, and the gov- 
ernor was directed to publish the names of such agents. It proved 
hard to comply with this law. See White to Milton, Dec. 9, 1863; 
Beauregard to Milton, Nov. 30, 1862, Milton Papers. 

' Laws of Florida, 12th sess., chapts. 1414, 1415- 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 



191 



ties came into conflict with Confederate commissary agents 
collecting the " Tithe ", with impressment agents buying 
at an arbitrary figure, and with merchants trading for a 
profit.^ People suffered for want of food in 1864-65. There 
was usually enough corn, peas, meat, salt, and molasses 
to supply the immediate needs of the inhabitants, but 
the necessary surplus was held by Confederate agents. By 
the spring of 1864 the scarcity of food in some localities 
had become acute. Major C. C. Yonge, chief Confederate 
quartermaster for the state, ordered on March 30th, 1864, 
that where " tithing corn " was needed for the indigent 
families, it could be purchased from the Confederate com- 
missary. This wise measure relieved temporarily the want 
that was driving some families perilously near starvation.^ 
Governor Milton was hostile to the practice of impress- 
ment. He informed the legislature in the autumn of 1863 
that " the press of this and other states, for the protection 
of creditors and worthy citizens, have made known the 
most shameless frauds practiced by impostors claiming to 
be officers or agents in Confederate service." As for the 
rulings of regular agents, he declared them to be " incom- 
patible with the rights of citizens and insulting to freemen 
who know their rights and have proven their loyalty to the 
government. Why should any citizen," he added, " be 

* The efforts of the Confederate commissary to obtain control of 
Wm. Bailey's cloth mill at Monticello furnishes a good example of 
competition between state and Confederacy. The mill was producing 
for the state government. The Confederate government withdrew 
finally in favor of the state. See Milton to Cunningham, Jan. 13, 1864. 
Milton to Seddon, Jan. 17, 1864; Seddon to Milton, July 30, 1864; 
Beauregard to Milton, Nov. 30, 1863, Milton Papers. Gov. Milton 
often encouraged and aided Confederate officials in obtaining sup- 
plies — see Milton to White (Chief Commissioner), Dec. 12, 1863, 
Milton Papers. 

"^ Yonge to Milton, Mch. 30. 1864; Milton to Seddon, Jan. 11, 1864, 
Milton Papers. 



ig2 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

clothed with military authority which would enable him to 
intrude himself into the sacred precincts of the family circle 
and when reproved or repulsed for this intrusion, then with 
an armed force at his back to return and make unlawful 
searches and seizures? " ^ 

But the Confederate government did not recede from its 
position on impressment. Supplies were absolutely essen- 
tial for the continuation of the war, and this system put the 
government into possession of supplies. One of the last 
acts of Congress (March, 1865) was the enactment of a 
more stringent impressment law, including milch cows, 
breeding hogs, and other stock vitally necessary for the 
very life of the farm." " If we have arrived at that point 
where it has become actually necessary to impress all the 
cows in the country," stated Judge Wall of Hernando 
County to Governor Milton ere the foregoing law was en- 
acted, " then I say God help us, for starvation must be in- 
evitable ".' 

A prominent case in Florida of conflict between private 
owner and Confederate impressment agent originated in 
the efforts of the Confederate commissary to obtain control 
of 50,000 pounds of sugar from ex-Senator Yulee's plan- 
tation. The sugar was seized while en route to Savannah, 
Georgia, where the government of that city had made a ten- 
tative agreement to purchase it at $1 per pound.* The 

^ Off. Reds. RebelL, s. iv, v. 2, pp. '^72-6. Milton to the legislature, 
Nov. 23, 1863. 

* Ibid., V. 3, pp. 1170-72. ^Off. Reds. RebelL. s. iv, v. 3, pp. 47-48. 

* Yulee vs. Conova, Fla. Rpts., v. xi, pp. 11-13. Conova was a major 
in the Confed. Commissary Dept. in Florida. By his orders the sugar 
was seized. Yulee disclaimed ownership and held therefore that he 
could not negotiate with the government. Conova had difficulty in 
fixing on the owner. He declared, " It matters not to whom the sugar 
belongs ; it is necessary for the subsistence of the armies of the Con- 
federate states in the field and it is my duty to obtain it," p. 15. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 193 

impressment agent held the sugar and offered the owner 45 
cents per pound. The offer was refused. The state im- 
pressment commissioners, in accordance with the Confed- 
erate law, fixed the compensation at 75 cents per pound. 
This was refused, and suit for damages was brought by 
the agent for the city of Savannah in the state circuit court 
of Florida. The Confederate agents held the sugar under 
military guard. ^ The damage suit was thrown out of court, 
but in equity proceedings the court awarded the owners of 
the sugar $54,204.19 damages.^ The case was appealed to 
the state supreme court. That tribunal fixed a rule for 
estimating a " just compensation " for the sugar, reversed 
the decision of the lower court, and directed it to increase 
the amount to be paid by the Confederate government.'' 
In this case state courts assumed and exercised very defi- 
nitely the right of fixing the price under the Confederate 
Impressment Act. 

The most serious conflict over impressment was that 
arising from the seizure of property belonging to the Flor- 
ida Railroad. In the spring of 1864 the Confederate war 
department determined to complete railway connections be- 
tween Central Florida and the Chattahoochee river. To 
accomplish this purpose railroad iron, spikes, and bolts were 
" impressed " in East Florida.'* Such material was then 
very scarce in the South. Track was torn up in order to 
extend the railway west. 

Lieutenant Fairbanks, of the Confederate engineering 
bureau, was entrusted with this work. He acted under 

^ Yulee vs. Conova, Fla. Rpts., v. xi, p. 17. 
^ Ibid., pp. 40-41. 
8 Ibid., pp. 61-62. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 53, pp. 350-63, Executive Correspondence, 
1864. 



1^4 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

formal permit from the major-general commanding the dis- 
trict. The permit called upon all officers to aid Fairbanks 
because "the work he is engaged in is a military necessity." ^ 

The railroad owners and their friends, led by ex-Senator 
Yulee, filed a bill in the court of Alachua County against 
Lieutenant Fairbanks, Major Minor Merriweather (of 
the Confederate engineering bureau — Fairbanks's chief), 
James A. Seddon, Confederate secretary of war, J. H. 
Burns, and S. P. Mallory, Confederate secretary of the 
navy. In response to the petition the court awarded an in- 
junction against the defendants restraining them or their 
agents from removing the iron.^ 

The writ of injunction was served on Lieutenant Fair- 
banks, April 27th. He disregarded it and continued to 
remove the iron. He so acted after consultation with his 
chief, Major Merriweather of the engineering bureau. 
General Anderson furnished Lieutenant Fairbanks andl 
workers a military guard and impressed a locomotive and 
cars for hauling the iron.^ Some two or three miles of 
track were removed, when on May 28th the lieutenant 
was summoned to answer for contempt of court. He again 
disregarded the court's order, refused to seek the advice 
of counsel, and continued to tear up track.* 

The case was beginning to excite bitter feeling, locally, 
and general popular dissatisfaction. The asseveration was 
spread abroad that the interests of East Florida were being 
sacrificed in order that another section might prosper, and 
that the military was acting without authority from Rich- 
mond. All attorneys in the Eastern portion of the state 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 53, p. 359. 
^Ibid., pp. 353-4. 

* Ibid., p. 362. 

* Ibid., p. 353. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 1^5 

were engaged by the railroad in order to embarrass the gov- 
ernment. Popular sympathy seemed to be with the railroad 
in its conflict with the Confederate military. General An- 
derson, commanding the district, said : " I do not believe 
the people could be induced to take sides with any party, 
class or corporation who openly refused to acquiesce in any 
demand which the government might make upon them. 
But in this case they are made to believe that it is not the 
government but interested officers who are seeking to obtain 
iron, as they say, by despoiling a weak state of her resources 
to enrich other more prosperous communities." ^ 

The Alachua county court directed the sheriff to arrest 
Lieutenant Fairbanks for contempt. The sheriff and 
posse attempted to arrest him, but the lieutenant resisted, 
reading aloud his instructions from his military superior 
and calling upon his provost guard for protection. With 
fixed bayonets the soldiers ranged themselves between the 
Confederate military official and the state's posse. Where- 
upon the sheriff and his men withdrew.^ This occurred on 
June 8th. It seemed clearly and only a case of conflict be- 
tween the Confederate military, private citizens and county 
civil officials. It soon proved more complicated. On June 
14th the Confederate States' attorney at Tallahassee, James 
Banks, notified Governor Milton that as Confederate 
States' attorney his duty in the pending case of Lieutenant 
Fairbanks and the Florida Railroad, was to protect the 
Sequestration fund of the Confederate government. Under 
the Confederate Sequestration Act of August 30th, 1861,' 
the central government had confiscated, as belonging to an 
alien enemy, $2,000,000 in stock and $800,000 in land and 
mortgages of the Florida Railroad. As the protector of this 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 53. p. 362. * Ibid., p. 355. 

8 Ibid., s. iv, V. I, pp. 586-92. 



ig6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

land in Florida, Attorney Banks had united with others in 
asking the county court to call Lieutenant Fairbanks before 
it for contempt/ 

This meant that civil officials of both the Confederacy 
and the county of Alachua were united in opposing impress- 
ment by the military of the Confederate government. It 
was clearly a case of conflict between civil authority and 
military authority. After the failure of the sheriff to exe- 
cute the order for the arrest of Fairbanks, that officer 
sought the advice of Colonel C. C. Yonge, Confederate 
attorney at Tallahassee. He was advised not to appear in 
court to answer for contempt and to continue to remove the 
iron.^ He did so, and the court, unable to enforce its de- 
crees, dropped the case. 

Judge Dawkins, who presided in the Alachua county 
court, and Governor Milton both deplored the conflict, both 
expressed their approval of the military's object in tearing 
up the track, but both stood stiffly in desiring the object to 
be obtained by very regular legal process.^ The Alachua 
county court failed to force the military to comply with the 
details of the Confederate Impressment Act. 

The opportunities to speculate which came with the clos- 
ing of southern ports by the Federal blockading fleet and 
the consequent rising market not only affected trading in 
the domestic food supply, but became a factor in the busi- 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 53, P- 35t). 

'Ibid., p. 363- 

3 Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 53, pp. 349-354- Milton,—" Nothing can 
justify a conflict between the state and Confed. Govts, but an absolute 
necessity for the protection of civil liberty . . . with regard to the 
propriety and necessity of the removal and appropriation of iron from 
the Florida <R. R., my opinions have undergone no change — that as a 
military necessity for the defense of the state the iron should be re- 
moved." Judge Dawkins : "A conflict between the civil and military 
is at all times to be lamented, but at this time especially." 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 197 

nesses of " blockade-running " and " salt making ". These 
two occupations — blockade trade and salt manufacturing 
— were peculiarly war-time activities.^ 

Blockade-running enabled the people of the South 
to obtain some necessities and many luxuries not produced 
at home. It also gave an opportunity for extortion in trad- 
ing which was taken advantage of. The harbors of the 
Florida coast became points of destination for steamers 
and small sailing craft laden with supplies from beyond the 
Confederacy. These vessels sailed usually from West 
Indian ports — particularly the Bahamas — with goods from 
the United States or England. Merchants in Southern 
towns co-operated with merchants in the North or in Europe 
in the exchange of commodities. The exchange was ef- 
fected usually in West Indian ports. The trade was some- 
times referred to as " the three-cornered trade " — meaning 
the South, the West Indies, and Europe or the North. ^ 

From the many bays and inlets of Florida the small, fast 
craft of the blockade traders slipped out to sea on dark 
nights laden with cotton, tobacco, or turpentine; and slipped 
into cover with coffee, tea, medicines, cloth, fine provisions, 
miscellaneous assortments of manufactured articles (col- 
ogne, hair-brushes, cheap jewelry, cheap hardware, etc.), 
arms and munitions of war.^ 

Choctawhatchee bay, St. Andrews bay, Deadman's bay, 

^ See Schwab, op. cit., chapts. 11 and 12, passim. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 28, pt. 2, p. 511. Letter of Nov. 17, 1863, 
on blockade-running. See also Naval War Reds., s. i, passim, 

* See bills of cargoes in following letters : Jenkins to Milton, Jan. 
13, 1862; Malverness to Milton, Apr. 12, 1862; Milton to Benjamin, 
Mch. 14, 1862; Walker to Milton, Mch., 1862; Noyes to Milton, April 
16, 1862 ; Finegan to Milton, May 8, 1863 — Milton Papers. Also Naval 
War Reds., s. i, v. 17, p. 52. A'". F. Herald, Feb. 21, 1864; N. Y. 
Times, March 29, 1862. 



1^8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Apalachicola, St. Marks, Cedar Keys, and Tampa were the 
principal points of operation on the west Florida coast; on 
the east coast — the Indian river, Fernandina, the St. Johns, 
St. Augustine, Mosquito Inlet and Jupiter inlet.^ 

Law-respecting blockade-runners obtained from the gov- 
ernor, the Confederate customs officials or the local Con- 
federate military authorities permission to sail — clearance 
papers. The projectors of the enterprise in this case often 
bonded themselves to bring back to Florida for the cotton, 
tobacco or turpentine taken away, a certain amount of nec- 
essary supplies for the Confederate or state governments.^ 
Occasionally the incoming cargo was entirely for the Con- 
federate war department or some commonwealth govern- 
ment. Usually, however, the cargoes were private prop- 
erty and were retailed at exorbitant figures to the people 
of the interior, in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. 

Some Confederate officials in Florida were guilty of 
peculation in the handling of government supplies through 
the blockade, selling the supplies, or a portion, and pocket- 

1 St. Andrews Bay and St. Georges Sound (on which was Apala- 
chicola Bay) on the west coast and Mosquito Inlet on the east were 
the most important points. Particularly important was Mosquito In- 
let for traffic from the Bahamas. The goods brought through the 
blockade on the east coast reached the interior by a rather intricate 
system of transshipments. From the important point of New Smyrna 
(on Mosquito Inlet), for instance, the goods were hauled in wagons 
overland to the St. Johns river. Thence they were shipped in small 
steamers or flats to Ft. Brock on the Ocklawaha river. The next 
stage was to Waldo by wagon, on the Fernandina and Cedar Keys 
Railroad. Cotton, turpentine, and tobacco from the interior and some- 
times from beyond Florida came by this route to the coast. N. Y. 
Herald, Sept. 12, 1862. Report from Florida " Loyalist ". 

* Milton to Montgomery, Oct. 2, 1863; Beauregard to Milton, Oct. 
13, 1863; Milton to Florida Congressional Delegation, Aug. 18, 1862; 
Milton to Randolph, June 25, 1862; Proclamation by the governor, 
Aug. 14, 1862 — Milton Papers. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 



199 



ing some or all of the proceeds. Confederate officials en- 
gaged in blockade trade, and then sold stuff thus imported 
at high rates to the government which employed them/ 

Governor Milton condemned blockade-running. He 
was in touch with the practice. He received frequent 
communications from Confederate custom officials at 
Florida ports. He tried to investigate the traffic, and 
he pronounced it bad. He believed that it substantially 
relieved the pressure felt by the loss of southern cot- 
ton ; that it tended to lower the value of Confederate 
securities; that it took from the South much wealth of 
primary importance to exchange for articles of luxury; 
that it encouraged speculation in trading detrimental to 
social welfare; that it put into the hands of the enemy in- 
formation concerning the condition of the Confederacy; 
and that it invited invasion in retaliation by the Federal 
government." The governor was a patriotic man and his 

1 Hernando to Mikon, Oct. 15, 1862, Milton Papers. " Salt was selling 
at $10.00 per sack on first arrival of blockade runners, but as soon 
as Confederate Quartermaster Sumner arrived things changed and 
salt was sold at $30 per sack and at even $50 in other localities." 
Gov. Milton stated that complaints such as the foregoing were of fre- 
quent occurrence. See also Taylor to Milton, Nov. 11, 1862; papers 
concerning the purchase of goods by Confederate officials and sale to 
Confederate Govt., 1862-3; Simpkins to Meyers, Apr. 14, 1862; Noyes 
to Milton, Apr. 22, 1862; Taylor to Floyd, Apr. 3, 1862; Milton to 
Randolph, Apr. 11, 1862 — Milton Papers. 

2 Milton to Randolph, June 25, 1862. " Citizens charged exorbitant 
prices for return cargoes," wrote Milton. " I made inquiry and found 
that co-partnership existed, formed by merchants in New Orleans, 
Havana, and New York for blockade trade, where it is exchanged 
for cotton from southern ports. The exchange is made by partners 
at Havana or Nassau. This traffic is not unknown to those in com- 
mand of the blockading fleet. By such base means not only is cotton 
obtained at New York and other Northern cities, but information 
prejudicial to our best interests is obtained, our slaves enticed away, 
and ignorant citizens corrupted by southern partners — men of northern 
birth or vile Jews professing to supply the people of the South with 



200 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

views are given at length because they represent the inter- 
pretation of the traffic given by no inconsiderable number 
in Florida and adjoining states. When we are told in the 
official report on the capture of the big steam blockade- 
runner " Emma " that her cargo (about to slip into Flor- 
ida) consisted in large part of barrels of oranges, bananas, 
ladies' shoes, fans, hats, parasols, cloaks, children's dolls 
and picture books, etc.," ^ we are apt to conclude that the 
necessities of life and the munitions of war were not the 
only things traded in. But admitting the fact that many 
unnecessary things came through the blockade, the truth 
remains that through the blockade came some of the prime, 
vital necessities of war not easily obtainable elsewhere; 
namely, ammunition, arms, and medicines. These things 
the Confederacy could not then produce in either sufficient 
quantity or necessary quality, and it could not do without 
them. The governor realized this when in the spring of 
1863 he suggested to Jefiferson Davis "An Act of Congress 
prohibiting under severe penalties all commercial inter- 
course with foreign nations, except such as should be au- 

salt, coffee, etc." Also Milton to McClellan, Aug. 31, 1864, " Fruitful 
of villainy and corruption, tends to depreciate currency and to encour- 
age the continuation of the war, etc." Also Griffin to Milton, Oct. 5, 
1862, Milton Pollers. " I am assured by captains of blockading ves- 
sels that nine out of ten bales of cotton going to Nassau are shipped 
to New York City, etc." Also Oman to Milton, Oct. 17, 1862; Milton 
to Seddon, May 10, 1863; Milton to Montgomery, Oct. 12, 1862; 
Milton to the Florida Delegation, Aug. 18, 1862; Governor's Messages, 
Nov. 17, 1862; Nov. 21, 1864 — Milton Papers. Also Laws of Florida, 
I2th sess., 1863, resolution 8: "Whereas the export of cotton, of 
tobacco and other products from the Confederate States by private 
enterprise and private emolument tends to depreciate the currency, 
corrupt public morals, and to lessen the production of food, etc." 
See also for entire South, Schwab, Confederate States, chap. 11 — a 
discussion by an authority. 
^ Naval IV ar Reds., s. i, v. 17, p. 52. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 201 

thorized by the Government through special agents and ex- 
clusively for the purposes of Government." ^ 

Much of the cotton and turpentine which was exported 
found its way to the Northern states; and some of the 
goods which came in return had " English stamps over the 
Yankee trade-marks ".^ Horses and wagons often sorely 
needed for military purposes were in the hands of mer- 
chants interested in the blockade traffic.^ The attitude of 
the Confederate government was favorable to the trade in 
Florida, in spite of Governor Milton's protests. ■* 

Scant record is left of blockade-running on the Florida 
coast. ° It is impossible to know definitely the extent of 
the commerce. Perhaps a few hundred cargoes of small 
vessels were all that passed into Florida. From May, 1861, 
to May, 1865, the federal fleet captured either just off the 
Florida coast or in Florida seaports 160 craft engaged in 
the blockade trade — 88 schooners, 49 sloops, 16 steamers, 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell, s. iv, v. 2, pp. 487-9. Apr. 15, 1863. 

'^Milton to Seddon, May 10, 1862; Milton to Florida Congressional 
Delegation, August 18, 1862; Governor's message, Nov. 17, 1862, 
Milton Papers, all refer to trade relations with the North. " Some of 
the goods were manufactured in the United States, and over the manu- 
facturer's stamps upon tnese goods the name of English manufacturers 
were stamped, which upon being removed showed the cunning device 
of Yankee villainy." 

' Milton to Seddon, May 16, 1863, " In South Florida families of sol- 
diers in Virginia are threatened with starvation. The state has pur- 
chased supplies for them but cannot get teams to haul. The specu- 
lators interested in the blockade are using these teams," etc. Also 
Taylor to Floyd, April 3, 1862, Milton Papers. 

* Milton to Randolph, Jan. 25, 1862, and reply, Milton Papers. "The 
Department" (Confederate war department), wrote the secretary, 
" has no legal authority to stop the export of cotton except to prevent 
it from falling into the hands of the enemy." Also Milton to Seddon, 
May 10, 1863; Milton to Florida Delegation, August 18, 1862, Milton 
Papers. 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, passim. 



202 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

2 yachts, 2 pilot boats, i bark, i brig, and i ship/ The 
average career of the blockade-runner was popularly put at 
three or four successful trips before capture. Judged by the 
record of captured blockade-runners Florida was abreast 
of the other Southern seaboard states in the trafific. Of the 
approximately 1,100 craft captured in Southern waters, 
about one-seventh were taken along the Florida coast. The 
great majority of these were out-bound when taken. ^ 

With the tightening of the cordon of Federal war-ships 
during '63-'65 and the occupation of the seaports — Fernan- 
dina, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Apalachicola, Cedar 
Keys, Tampa — the number of craft which succeeded in 
getting through decreased. 

Did the trade pay those engaged in it for profit? It prob- 
ably did, or it would not have continued so persistently in 
the face of enormous difficulties. The United States con- 
sul at Nassau, which was a favorite point of departure for 
the east coast of Florida, estimated four voyages to a craft 
as an average before capture by the blockading fleet." He 
took for an example a certain blockade-runner from Nassau 
— the "Ella and Annie" (steamer). On the voyages to 
the South her cargoes were valued at approximately $100,- 
000 gold, outside the Confederacy. On return trips she 
brought cargoes averaging 1,300 bales of cotton of 400 

^Estimate made up from Rpt. Sect, of War (U. S.), 1865-66, pp. 
457-489. Three or four of the steamers and about a dozen of the sail- 
ing crafts were denominated " English " or " British ". 

'^ Rpt. Sect, of War, 1865-66, pp. 457-489. 1,271 craft are recorded 
as captured by the blockading fleet. 175 of these were in foreign 
waters or " at sea ". 

' Four successful voyages per ship might be a bit too high. Six 
vessels, for instance, cleared from Apalachicola during the first six 
months of 1862. Five of these were captured on the outward trip or 
return. See Memoranda, 1862, Milton Papers. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 203 

pounds per bale, which at 45 cents per pound amounted to 
$234,000 gold. Deducting the cost of the voyage to Flor- 
ida and back — estimated at $15,000, and the value of the 
carge, $100,000, there is left a net profit of $119,000 per 
voyage. If this craft could accomplish the average four 
voyages and was lost on the fifth with her entire cargo, 
the loss would amount to $100,000 value of the steamer, 
and $100,000 value of the cargo and $15,000 expense of 
voyage; in all, $215,000 loss, while the profits would have 
amounted to $476,000; deducting the $215,000 you have 
$261,000 in net profits on the transaction for such a block- 
ade-runner as the " Ella and Annie " — more than 200 per 
cent in probably a few months' time.^ 

Blockade-running induced the Federal army and navy to 
seek actively the land control of all points of entry along 
the Florida coast. Salt-making, the other war-time busi- 
ness of the seacoast, had ultimately a similar effect. Dur- 
ing the first year of war, works for the making of salt by 
boiling sea-water in great kettles and sheet-iron boilers 
were established along the bays and sequestered inlets of 
the Florida coast, particularly on the western coast between 
Choctawhatchee bay and Tampa.^ The industry grew so 
rapidly that by the autumn of 1862 thousands of bushels of 
salt were being manufactured daily and scores of teams 
were hauling it into the more populous interior — most of 
it, out of the state. Several thousand men were employed 
in the work. 

By Confederate law salt-makers were exempted from 
military service. One sickening result of this exemption 

1 Naval War Reds., s. 1, v. 9, pp. 80-81. Rpt. of S. C. Hawley, U. S. 
Consul at Nassau. See also Schwab, Confederate States, chap. 11; 
and Rhodes, U. S., vol. v, chap. 28. 

2 Everett to Milton, Dec. 10, 1862, Milton Papers. 



204 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

was the extreme eagerness of many people to be enrolled 
among the salt-makers. It was less dangerous boiling sea- 
water in kettles than running the risk of Federal bullets 
and even more dreadful disease in the army. The Florida 
legislature encouraged the industry thus springing up on 
its usually lonely seacoast. The privilege of making salt in 
Florida was cordially extended in resolutions of the legis- 
lature to the government and the citizens of neighboring 
states.^ The Florida state government organized the salt- 
makers in companies and furnished them with arms and 
ammunition.^ The officers of this semi-military organiza- 
tion were appointed by the governor of Florida. 

Although an abundance of salt was made within the state, 
the price of the commodity did not go down. It went 
steadily up. The people of Florida were in actual want of 
salt.* This want caused the governor to propose that the 
state tax the industry by appropriating one-tenth of the salt 
made. The most shameful cases of local " cornering the 
market " developed in connection with the salt trade. 

The industry in West Florida became an appreciable 

^ Laws of Florida, 12th sess., Dec, 1862, resolution 13. The resolu- 
tions were a response to requests from neighboring states. For ex- 
ample, in April, 1862, Gov. Shorter, of Alabama, requested of Gov. 
Milton that the state of Alabama be allowed to manufacture salt in 
Florida, as the saline deposits in Alabama were not sufficient. The 
request was granted, Milton Papers. 

^ Laws of Florida, 12th sess., Dec, 1862, resolution 30. 

^Governor's message, Nov. 17, 1862; Nov. 21, 1864; Hunter to 
Milton, Apr. 27th, 1862 — Milton Papers. There was great want of salt 
in East Florida. One man was reputed to be in control of all available 
salt in that portion of the state and to be holding it for very high 
prices. Some people to get the salt forged orders from the Confeder- 
ate Government for it. See also correspondence between Floyd, Dan- 
cey, Simmons, Milton and Gregory over the salt question at Apalachi- 
cola, West Florida, where a genuine local " salt corner " developed. 
Milton Papers, Nov. 1861 to Jan. 1862. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 205 

factor in the general economic situation there. The food 
consumed by the salt-makers and the forage consumed by 
the horses and mules used in hauling the salt from the state 
helped rapidly to exhaust the already dwindling supply of 
forage, bread, and meat in Florida. Many of the laborers 
employed came from other states. Considerable commis- 
saries were operated to support them. Wagons, horses, 
and teamsters needed sometimes by the state and counties 
for the indigent or by the military for its purposes were in 
the hands of salt-makers. 

The industry was not entirely a matter of private en- 
terprise. Large works were operated by the subsistence 
bureau of the Confederate government for the army. By 
the advent of 1863 the value of salt-works in Florida 
amounted to more than three million dollars.^ Florida had 
become one of the most important states in the Confeder- 
acy in the manufacture of this commodity. Probably 5,000 
men and boys labored in the salt-works.^ Her very isola- 
tion, poverty, and uncleared forests near the sea proved 
assets of value. Fuel and sea- water were cheap. Labor 
was not wanting as long as salt-making exempted men from 
fighting. 

The production of salt for the people of the Con- 
federacy was an important service — far too important 
to be overlooked by the Federal Government. In Oc- 
tober, 1862, salt-works on St. Josephs bay and near 

^ Before the end of 1864 more than $6,000,000 of such property 
(kettles, boilers, furnaces, warehouses, wagons, sacks, etc.) had been 
destroyed by the Federal fleet. This estimate is based on Northern 
sources. See Moore, Retell. Red., v. 8, p. 419; N. Y. Herald, Jan. 5th, 
1864. Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, pp. 593-601. 

* Estimate based upon reports in Naval War Reds., see particularly 
s. i, V. 19, pp. 375-377, reports of Lt. Comd. Hart and Acting-Master 
Browne, who took prominent part in destroying works. 



2o6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Cedar Keys were destroyed by the blockading fleet/ Some 
private dwellings were burned in the general destruction — 
accomplished practically without opposition. These inci- 
dents inaugurated the extensive raiding of salt-works in 
Florida. On November 24th a Federal expedition from 
Pensacola entered St. Andrews bay. It was night. " The 
sky was lit up to east and west away inland for a long dis- 
tance," reported the Federal commander. " Fog hung over 
the water " next morning as the Federal boats approached 
the usually lonely shores of St. Andrews bay. "As we came 
nearer we not only heard voices but we heard dogs barking, 
and horses neighing, and we felt quite sure we had 
stumbled upon a company of cavalry," stated Lieutenant 
Commander Hart, of the " Albatross ". "I thought I would 
startle them," he continued, " and ordered a shell to be sent 
over their heads, and in a minute there was heard such 
shouting and confusion. They seemed not to know which 
way to run." ^ Again without opposition the sailors and 
marines went about their work of destruction. By Decem- 
ber 8th, 466 salt pans, kettles or cauldrons, each over a 
crude bricked furnace, had been destroyed. The capacity 
of these 466 pans was given at 37,730 gallons of sea-water. 
About a thousand bushels of salt were destroyed, as well as 
some fifty wagons and several score shacks, cabins, and 
rough store-houses.^ " To render everything completely 
unfit for future use," reported Hart, " we had to knock 
down all the brick work, to destroy the salt already made, 
to knock in the heads and set fire to barrels, boxes and 
everything that would hold salt, and to disable and burn up 
the wagons that we found loaded with it." 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, pp. 316-319. N. Y. Herald, Oct. 30, 
1862. 

2 Ibid., s. i, V. 19, p. 2,y2- 

' Ibid., s. i, V. 19. pp. 373-378. Reports of Browne and Hart. N. Y. 
Herald, Jan. 20th, 1864 — account. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 207 

This expedition learned of great works farther up the 
bay belonging to the Confederate government. Acting- 
Master Browne, of the ship Bohio, one of the destroying 
fleet, estimated that 2,500 men were engaged in salt-making 
on St. Andrews bay.^ At this time — 1862 — salt was selling 
in the interior of Florida for $1 per pound, yet the Fed- 
eral commander reported " the whole coast lined with " 
salt-works." 

The following June (1863), four establishments on St. 
Georges sound (West Florida) were attacked, 65 furnaces 
destroyed, 30 houses burned, and several hundred bushels 
of salt thrown into the sea or mixed with sand.^ On De- 
cember 2nd of this year the Kent salt-works on Lake Ocala 
near St. Andrews bay were demolished. These works con- 
sisted of 13 boilers of 300 gallons capacity each and could 
produce 130 bushels of salt per day.* On December loth 
and 1 8th more formidable operations took place on St. An- 
drews bay. There the Confederate government had estab- 
lished extensive works with a capacity of 400 bushels of 
salt per day. The Federal expedition consisting of 92 
sailors fired the 2y buildings housing the workmen and 
stores, knocked to pieces 222 furnaces and kettles, and ren- 
dered useless 2,000 bushels of salt ready for shipment. The 
raiders then turned their attention to the private works that 
lined the bay shore for seven miles. They destroyed 198 
such establishments employing 507 furnaces and 300 build- 
ings. Before they had completed their work they had 
burned 32 homes in the little village of St. Andrews. The 
total destruction of private property was estimated by the 

^ Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 19, p. 377. 
^ Rpt. of Acting-Master Browne. 
' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, pp. 467-472. 

* Rpt. Sect. Navy, 1864-5, pp. 372-3. N. Y. Times, Jan. 7, 1864. 
Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, p. 593. 



2o8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Federal commander at $2,500,000; of Confederate prop- 
erty, $500,000.^ There is no evidence materially to im- 
pugn the accuracy of this estimate. Several companies of 
irregular Confederate cavalry stood in the woods and 
watched what went on, unable to render assistance because 
of the guns of the war-ships. 

Salt-making was profitable and necessary. Therefore it 
died hard in Florida. Within a few weeks the smoke of 
industry was again rising from the shores of St. Andrews 
bay, and scarcely two months later (during February, 
1864), boat expeditions from the blockading fleet began 
over again the work of destruction. The new Confederate 
works had been in operation only ten days. They covered a 
clearing one-half mile square.^ The loss amounted to prob- 
ably several hundred thousand dollars. 

One week before this destruction on St. Andrews bay, 
St. Marks bay had been visited by the salt-destroyers (Feb- 
ruary 17-19). The Federal expedition landed some dis- 
tance from the salt-works, marched forty miles through the 
woods, attacked the workmen from the rear while the ships 
appeared in front, and all there — the guard included — either 
fled or surrendered. Hundreds of furnaces — 50 of them 
under sheet-iron boilers of near 1,000 gallons capacity each 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, pp. 593-601. Rpt. Sect. Navy, 1864-5, 
pp. 372-3. Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 8, pp. 280-281. N. Y. Herald, Jan. 
7th and 19th, 1864. The Herald's estimate of property destroyed on St. 
Andrew's Bay is as follows : 500 boilers and kettles, averaging 150 
gallons each, at $5.00 per gallon =^ $375,000; value of manf. salt, 
$120,000; Con. Govt, works, ^ mile square, with buildings, $500,000; 
199 small salt works of private companies, $1,990,000 — total, $2,985,000. 

* Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 17, pp. 467-472. Rpt. Seet. Navy, 1864-5, 
p. 379. Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 8, pp. 280-281. A partial list of the 
property destroyed included 165 kettles and pans of an average capacity 
of 100 gallons each; 53 large boilers of 800 gallons each; 98 "brick 
furnaces " ; and 100 buildings — the total valued at $250,000. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 209 

— were broken up. 250 houses and a quantity of provisions 
were burned. The estimated value of the property lost here 
was $3,000,000. Most of the works were said to be Con- 
federate property.^ 

A Federal warship entered St. Andrews bay again on Oc- 
tober 25th, 1864. "We arrived at the entrance of the bay at 
8 P. M.," stated the commander. " The fires of the salt- 
works were seen for miles along the beach." Before day- 
light a small body of marines went ashore and destroyed 
the works of the Confederate government.^ The process 
was repeated in February, 1865.^ In December, 1864, the 
works on Old Tampa bay were swept away by the block- 
ading fleet* 

Certainly these raids on a war-time industry were among 
the most easily accomplished and disastrous blows struck 
the Confederacy in Florida. The government lost several 
million dollars worth of valuable property, private owners 
lost about as much as the government, and the people lost 
the salt which they needed very much. The blockading 
squadron did the work. Never more than 250 sailors and 
marines took part in the destruction — aided sometimes by 
runaway negroes and white " Union men ". The Federal 
navy thus not only kept out of the South necessary supplies 
from abroad but it almost put a stop to the production in 
Florida of a very necessary commodity — salt.^ It seems 

1 Rpt. Ad. Bailey, Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 8, pp. 414-420; Rpt. Sect. 
Navy, 1864-S, pp. 377-8. 

» A^ Y. Herald, Nov. 8, 1864. 

» Rpt. Sect. Navy, 1865-6, p. 351. 

* Rpt. Sect. Navy, 1864-5. In July, 1864, extensive works in Tampa 
Bay had been destroyed by the Federal fleet. A''. Y. Herald, Dec. 17, 
1864. 

' N. Y. Herald. Jan. 20, 1864, contains an interesting and suggestive 
article on the importance of Florida's salt works by Acting-Master 
Browne, who commanded several expeditions along the Florida coast. 



2IO RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

passing strange that the Confederate government did so 
little to protect its works in Florida. 

Cotton and tobacco paid for most stuff which came 
through the blockade. In this way agriculture in Florida 
was related to blockade-trading. The people of the South 
at this time had more need of native food products than of 
cotton and tobacco for exchange. The big profits possible 
in blockade-trading constituted for some planters and mer- 
chants a real temptation to continue or even to expand the 
cultivation of cotton and tobacco. 

Early in 1863 an attempt was made in the legislature to 
check somehow by law the planting of cotton and tobacco. 
The attempt failed. "Many of our planters," said Governor 
Milton, " had commenced to plant and the crops generally 
would have been planted before it was possible to secure 
legislation to prohibit or limit the right to plant cotton. 
Moreover, the intelligence and patriotism of the planters of 
Florida induced them last year to plant cereals to the ex- 
clusion of cotton." ^ The governor was optimistic over 
patriotic agriculturalists. The legislature was not. By sta- 
tute of December 3rd, 1863, that body tried by law to regu- 
late planting. 

It was enacted that no more than one acre of cotton per 
laborer employed or one-quarter of an acre of tobacco, 
should be planted. A fine of $3,000 was fixed for the 
breaking of this law — one-half of which was to go to the 
informer and the other half to the indigent within the 
county. The law exempted from its operations those who 
would manufacture all the cotton which they raised and 
would sell the cloth to the people of the state at a rate fixed 
by the commissioners of the Confederate government.^ 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. iv, v. 11, pp. 487-9. Milton to Pres. Davis, 
Apr. IS, 1863. 
^ Laws of Florida, 12th sess., 1862, chap. 142?. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 21I 

The southern states were isolated and thrown upon their 
own resources during the civil war. Except for the block- 
ade trade, Florida was pretty much cut off from the world 
market. The neighboring Confederate states were almost 
as poor as she. More than ever before in its history each 
locality found it necessary to get its living, without ex- 
change, from within its bounds. The country store-keeper 
and the town jobber either closed out or were forced to 
reduce their stocks. The state's slender factory equipment 
was worked to the utmost. General William Bailey's small 
cloth factory at Monticello, a shoe factory, and a wool-card 
factory at the same place were guarded jealously by the 
state government, which bought regularly about two-thirds 
of the output. Monticello was the chief manufacturing 
point in the state — in fact the Bailey mill was the only cloth 
mill in Florida.^ 

Neighborhood grist mills loomed into great importance. 
Back-yard tanneries tried to supply the demand for leather. 
Country blacksmiths and crude foundries mended worn- 
out tools. Ingenious housewives made coffee from parched 
potatoes or corn, tea from blackberry leaves, soap from 
ashes and grease, dyes from the various herbs of the woods, 
and spun and wove with an industry born of patriotism and 
necessity.^ The war entailed, in fact, a temporary indus- 
trial revolution. 

Productive industry was checked. Not only were many 
small farmers away in the army — almost ten thousand of 
them — but also many overseers from the plantations. The 
absence of overseers left some plantations without directors 

' Milton to Cunningham (Maj. and Confed. Q.-M. at Atlanta, Ga.), 
June 13, 1864; Cunningham to Milton, June 21, 1864; Seddon to Mil- 
ton, July 30, 1864 — Milton Papers. 

* I obtain such facts from conversation with people who experienced 
this. 



212 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

for the slave labor and seriously interfered with produc- 
tion. The negro slave was in need of direction and control. 
Some of the overseers went as substitutes for those men 
who did not wish to go into the army and who had means 
to buy off. An overseer received a salary of from $300 to 
$1,000 per annum. As a substitute he received two or three 
thousand dollars or more.^ 

While the war thus drew away from Florida those 
needed at home, it also induced many to make desperate ef- 
forts to stay at home in order to avoid the terrible danger 
and hardship of actual campaigning. Like Monsieur Bom- 
pard, of Tarascon, they were apt to be out of danger's way 
and yet wield positive opinions about defense. Governor 
Milton inferred that some " stayed at home and bragged on 
states rights".^ There was a scramble among such persons to 
hunt substitutes or to be appointed commissary agents or 
civil employees of the state, county, or Confederate govern- 
ment; or to prove that they were in certain industrial, man- 
agerial, or intellectual professions exempted from the oper- 
ations of the Confederate Conscript Act. Millers, salt- 
makers, tanners, various other skilled laborers and preach- 
ers sought to find relief from the army behind their profes- 
sions. ' 

* Milton to Davis, Feb. 17, and May 23, 1863 ; Davis to Milton, Sept. 

I, 1863 ; Milton to the Florida Delegation, Mar. 23, 1863 — Milton 
Papers. Milton wrote to Pres. Davis : " Overseers should be exempted 
from conscription, not owners of slaves. The safety of the Confeder- 
ate states depends on the exemption to overseers." To Florida's rep- 
resentatives in Congress he wrote: "Overseers are readily going into 
service as substitutes. The amount they receive is sufficient permanent 
support for themselves and families, etc." Later to Davis he wrote: 
" Prices paid overseers range from $300 to $700 per annum. The price 
paid substitutes ranges from $1,000 to $5,000, etc." 

^ Milton to Florida Delegation, Sept. 11, 1862, Milton Papers. 
'Milton to Davis, Feb. 17, May 23, 1863; to Fla. delegation, Sept. 

II, 1862; to Seddon, Jan. 11, 1864; to White, Dec. 12, 1863; to Seddon, 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 213 

The state government sought exemption from service in 
the Confederate army for its civil officials, for plantation 
overseers, and for the operatives in the little state factories 
of Monticello.^ Citizens of Florida and citizens of neigh- 
boring states established themselves with kettles on the sea- 
coast because salt-makers were exempted. Governor Milton 
stated that " many able-bodied men from adjoining and this 
state have repaired to the Florida seacoast and under pre- 
tense of making salt have been holding intercourse with the 
enemy; others have been lazy loungers. I know ten men 
associated in salt-making on the coast for the past six 
weeks. They have not made a bushel." " 

Preachers, physicians, county officials multiplied and 
claimed exemption under Confederate law. Recruiting offi- 
cers, much plagued by subterfuge, learned to interpret the 
law to suit themselves, and thereby reduced by conscription 
the ranks of the exempted. The conscripted appealed to 
the state courts if they had any case at all. Three of these 
exemption cases reached the state supreme court. That 
tribunal was lenient toward the individuals seeking to avoid 
serving in the army.^ 

The number of men in Florida enjoying exemption from 

Oct. 29, 1863; Daniels to Milton, Feb. 14, 1864; Gen. Ords. no. 69 
(Aug. 27, 1864) from Confed. Adj. and Insp. Gen. — Milton Papers. The 
Confed. bureau of conscription furnished the Confed. commis. bureau 
in each state the names of those exempted from military service. The 
commissary bureau sought its sub-agents from this class. See Milton 
to Seddon, May 14, 1864 {Milton Papers), giving state and local offi- 
cials exempted from service in the Confed. army, about 600 in all. 

^ Laws of Florida, 12th sess., Dec, 1863, resolution no. 14, praying 
for exemption of workmen in Jeff. Co. fact. Cunningham to Milton, 
June 13, 1864; Seddon to Milton, July 30, 1864 — Milton Papers. 

2 Milton to Fla. delegation, Sept. 11, 1862, Milton Papers. 

^ Fla. Rpts., v. ix; King vs. Daniel, pp. 91-99 (conscription of a 
preacher) ; Cook vs. Fernandez, pp. 100-104 (conscription of a physi- 
cian) ; Hunt vs. Finegan, pp. 105-111 (conscription of a county official). 



214 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



military service was never relatively large. A statement of 
Governor Milton in May, 1864, shows that the number of 
state and local officials exempted from service was about 
600/ In February, 1865, those officially exempted in Flor- 
ida numbered only 748, of whom 237 were men physically 
disabled; 153, plantation overseers; 152, railway employ- 
ees; 120, state officials; and only 20, ministers of the gospel.^ 
Certain farmers throughout the state gave bond to the 
Confederate government to deliver a specified amount of 
supplies to the Confederate commissary, and for this were 
exempted from military service.^ Yet the Confederate sub- 
sistence bureau declared that the 

bonded agriculturalists are as much in the service as they 
would have been if not conditionally exempted. Whenever 
one of them is found bartering any of his surplus or selling 
any to others than the Government or families of officers and 
soldiers, or at rates other than those prescribed, evidence of 
the fact must be at once furnished to the appropriate enroll- 
ing officer and the name of the party and the enrolling officer 
sent to the Bureau of Conscription. The District Attorney 
shall be furnished with the information preliminary to a prose- 
cution of the offender on his bond.* 

Thus the bonded farmer was held to his contract by the 
double menace of conscription and loss of his bond. In 

^ Milton to Secldon, May 14, 1864, Milton Papers. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, v. 3, pp. 1 102-3. The exemptions were as 
follows : ministers 20, editors 3, newspaper employees 8, apothecaries 7, 
teachers 5, physicians 27, mail contractors 8, overseers 153, railroad 
employees 152, Confed. officials 6, foreigners i, coach-drivers i. 

* See, for examples, contract of Confed. Govt, with Wm. Johnston 
(Madison Co.), Oct. 20, 1863; Proclams. of Gov., Dec. 14, 1864, and 
Jan. 19, 1865 — Milton Papers. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 46, pt. 2, pp. 1214-16. Circular of Con- 
fed. subsist, bureau, Sept. 5, 1864. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 215 

Florida the smaller farms were the most productive during 
the war. The principal food-stuffs produced were corn, 
peas, potatoes, molasses, sugar, pork, and beef/ 

To preserve the supply of corn the state suppressed early 
in the war the distilleries of corn whiskey. Those distil- 
leries under contract with the Confederate government 
were allowed to continue operations upon giving to the state 
a bond of $20,000 — to be forfeited if the distillery engaged 
in private trade.^ 

The ultimate object here in examining Florida's eco- 
nomic condition during the civil war is to arrive at some 
correlation of those facts which historical analysis presents, 
and which all together and with the larger body of un- 
known facts mark the effect of war upon the state of Flor- 
ida. What, in synthesis, was the character of economic ad- 
justment to war? We have a state with little wealth and 
small population going out of a strong union, facing revo- 
lution, plunging at once into heavy debt, and becoming a 
member of a new union. We have its land holdings enor- 
mously increased and used to sustain its credit. We have 
banks suspending specie payment and business men curtail- 
ing their operations for the threatened storm. We have 
the state government attempting to adjust society to the 
new regime by the passage of legislation arresting legal 
processes for debt, forbidding the payment of debts to an 
alien enemy, instituting new legal tribunals, legalizing the 
suspension of specie payment, and putting an arbitrary 
premium upon the notes and securities which it issued. We 

I'Maj. White (Chf. Confed. Commiss. for Fla.) to Gen. Miller, 
Nov. 12, 1864; Miller to Seddon, Nov. 14, 1864 — Milton Papers. Maj. 
White stated that agriculture in Fla. was on the decline. 

^ Laws of Fla., 12th sess., 1862, chap. 1382; 1863, chap. 1463. Mes- 
sages of Gov. Milton, Nov. 17, 1862; Nov. 21, 1864; contract for de- 
livery of whiskey to Confed. officials, Nov. i, 1863 — Milton Papers. 



2i6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

have the beginning of military operations and the block- 
ade, respectively draining the state of men and supplies and 
cutting off supplies from abroad. We have the confiscation 
and destruction of considerable property by both the Union 
and the Confederacy as the war progressed. We have the 
upspringing of certain industries and commerce born of the 
war. We find that some citizens of Florida took advan- 
tage of the distraught condition of society to buy up and 
hold food for high prices and otherwise to speculate unpa- 
triotically. We have the state government attempting to 
curb speculation by law. We have a steady increase in the 
price of food and clothing and a steady decrease in the 
amount. We find Florida undergoing the inevitable conse- 
quences of civil war. We find Kropotkin's description of 
France in the Revolution strangely not unfitted to Florida. 
" The circulation of produce was checked," he said. ''Want 
knocked at the door, famine was abroad in the land — such 
famine as had hardly been seen under the Old Regime." ^ 
We have the state and the county governments contributing 
directly to the support of as many non-combatants by the 
end of the war as there were soldiers from Florida in the 
field. We have the state government attempting to regulate 
production and to some extent distribution. We find ex- 
perience here demonstrating the generalization of Kropotkin 
that " if a society, a citizen, or a territory were to guarantee 
the necessities of life to its inhabitants it would be com- 
pelled to take possession of what is absolutely needed for 
production — land, machinery, factories, means of transpor- 
tation, etc." We find friction, confusion, and no little con- 
flict existing between Confederate officials, local officials, 
and private owners over the impressment of property — 
with the victory usually for the Confederacy. We find that 

' Conquest of Bread, p. 62. 



ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO THE WAR 



217 



by 1865 business activity was dead or degenerated into un- 
healthy speculation. We observe that the people of Flor- 
ida found increased difficulty in making a living while cut 
off from the outside world and subject to a share in the 
support of the Confederate armies. 

Among any conclusions reached in regard to Florida it 
must be admitted that the state's experience was essentially 
the same as the others in the lower South ; and, also, that it 
was the blockade more than battles which steadily exhausted 
the economic strength of the commonwealth. In civilized 
society, particularly in a one-staple agricultural society, it is 
difficult for men to live successfully unto themselves. Ex- 
change is a fundamental law of life and the modern market- 
place is the wide world. 



CHAPTER IX 
The Negro and the War 

For the South, the Civil War — sweeping over it from 
end to end like a devastating fire — was a test of the strength 
of those unwritten laws that hold a civilized society to- 
gether. Among the Civil War phenomena which have 
evoked favorable comment from the critical, was the appar- 
ent faithfulness and gentleness — even high-minded human- 
ity — of the black slave during the hideous turmoil of that 
period. Certainly the social discipline of Southern slavery 
did not break down when subjected to the test of war. To 
the investigator of Southern history, however, the after-war 
verdicts concerning the negro are hard to reconcile with the 
evident preparedness among the whites before and during 
the war to suppress servile insurrection. The sinister 
phantom of Santo Domingo hung over the South as a 
brooding shadow. 

Afterwards many ex-slaveholders spoke kindly of the 
slave in the war, and such well-meant commendation has 
had no little influence in shaping the generalizations of his- 
torians as to what went on during the conflict. Governor 
Walker, of Florida, an ex-slaveholder, declared in 1865 to 
the assembled legislature, that " the world had never seen 
such a body of slaves, for not only in peace but in war they 
had been faithful to us. During much of the time of the 
late unhappy difficulties Florida had a greater number of 
men in her army than constituted her entire voting popula- 
tion.^ This, of course, stripped many districts of their 

^ For verification of this conclusion, see Robertson, Soldiers of Flor- 
218 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 219 

arms-bearing inhabitants and left our females and infant 
children almost exclusively to the protection of our slaves. 
They proved true to their trust. Not one instance of insult, 
outrage, or indignity has ever come to my knowledge. They 
remained at home and made provisions for our Army." ^ 

The fact is that the Southern slave was well-fed, well- 
housed, well-treated, and lastly, well-watched and con- 
trolled ; hence the peace about the slave quarters on isolated 
plantations when war was raging at no great distance. 
Many slaves in the white households loved " their white 
people " and in return were loved with a sincerity proven by 
experience. They needed no watching and controlling. It 
was to them that the " master " confided his women and 
little children when he went away to fight. It was of them 
the governor was thinking when he said, " the world had 
never seen such a body of slaves ". These family servants 
earned well the praise for faithfulness — and yet they but 
proved true to their rearing in the family circles of the 
South's aristocracy. They were in fact the black part of 
that aristocracy. They stand as historical examples of the 
truth that the negro character may successfully adjust itself 
to the sturdiest and best conditions of Western civilization. 
They, the small minority among the slaves, were the 
powerful exemplars of one good aspect in a system despised 
and condemned as a pariah among social systems by the 
meddlesome, conscience-stricken people of another section. 

The field hands were normally passive under the stress 
of war because they were semi-barbarous people held in 
watchful and firm restraint, and well-treated. They were 

ida, muster rolls ; Off. Reds. RebelL, s. iv, v. 2, pp. 49-50. The highest 
number of votes cast in any election in Florida before the war was 
12,988, according to Gov. Milton. 

' Address of the Governor, Dec. 18, 1865, Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, 
P- 23. 



220 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



not consciously faithful and humane in the face of oppres- 
sion and opportunity to rise in a body, for neither of these 
two conditions existed except in sporadic cases. If they 
had existed, the result would have been massacre and devas- 
tation to vast sections of the South, sufficient to have 
pleased even John Brown. The murder, rape, and rapine 
there would have equalled what had transpired in Santo 
Domingo. The slaves did not rise. The South was not 
made a shambles — at l.east not by revolting blacks — but it 
must be remembered that the Southern white consciously 
strove to prevent it from becoming this. Confederate 
armies had their backs to a veritable powder magazine, and 
thousands of soldiers in the ranks knew it. This is what in- 
vasion forced upon the South. A memorable phenomenon 
of the war is the steadiness with which Southern society 
stood the impact of disaster upon disaster in its very midst 
without becoming hopelessly demoralized and giving way 
under the test of war. 

At the outbreak of the conflict an evidence of the appre- 
hension in the South over the negro question was the pas- 
sage of laws to restrain the too free movements of the 
black. In Florida during the autumn of 1861 the state 
legislature amended and consolidated the various enact- 
ments concerning citizen patrols. The counties were di- 
vided into beats, and state officials announced certain pe- 
riods of patrol duty for certain citizens in each beat. The 
patrols moved at night in parties — usually on horseback. 
They were supposed to keep informed on the condition and 
the opinion of the negroes in their districts; to ride over 
the country one or more nights each week; to arrest and 
examine negroes found out at night; to apprehend thieves 
(black and white) engaged in trading plantation products 
and fixtures under cover of darkness ; to seize all disor- 
derly vessels harboring or dealing with negroes; to prevent 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 221 

or disperse any unlawful assembly of negroes — free or 
slave — and to take from the hands of slaves all firearms. 

Four or more negroes together in a confined or secret 
place was termed an " unlawful assembly ". The patrol 
had authority to enter by force if necessary all negro 
cabins and to inflict a punishment by whipping, not to ex- 
ceed twenty lashes, on all slaves found off the premises of 
their owners without a written permit from the master. If 
while arresting or whipping a slave the black should act 
" insolently ", the patrol was authorized by law to inflict ad- 
ditional punishment, not to exceed thirty-nine lashes.^ 

There was nothing new in principle for Florida in 
this patrol law of 1861, nor was its application a departure 
from past practice.^ The patrols were designed to be rural 
police. How effectively Florida's patrol system was carried 
out during the war can be only a matter of conjecture. It 
seems reasonable to conclude that in times so abnormal, 
with so many of the active men away in the army, a rigid 
enforcement of the patrol law was impossible.^ 

The material well-being — if not the very existence — of 
the state depended upon the labor of the slave. Invasion was 

^ Laws of Florida, nth Session, 1861, chapter 1291. 

* For a summary of legislation in Florida on this subject, see Hurd's 
(J. C.) The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the U. S. (1862), v. 2, 
pp. 190-195. A patrol law was enacted by the territorial legislature in 
1825. Additional provisions were added in 1832-33-36. In 1827 a law 
was enacted " to prevent trading with negroes." In 1828 the death 
penalty was imposed for inciting insurrection among slaves. In 1840 an 
act " prohibited the use of firearms to negroes." Laws of 1836 and 
1842 restricted the immigration of free negroes. In 1846 a new patrol 
law was enacted. Also see Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, v. 2, p. 402, for 
citing of Fla. statute, 1851, chap. 388, in reference to blacks on plan- 
tations. 

' Before the end of 1863 more than half of the able-bodied white, 
male population in Florida of military age was in the Confederate 
army. A year later, four-fifths. See Robertson, Soldiers of Florida. 



222 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

disastrous not only in the immediate loss which it brought 
but in the consequent demoralization in labor which it 
caused. " It is of the last importance," wrote General 
Ward from Florida to the Confederate secretary of war, 

that the crops now planted should not be disturbed nor the 
negroes withdrawn. Money is the sinews of war. If the 
plantations belonging to our Gulf coast are ravaged, to avoid 
the plunder of the negroes (not to speak of insurrection) the 
capacity of the county to contribute to the war is at an end. 
If the corn crop should fail, a large mass of starving popula- 
tion will be thrown back upon the higher country, itself a 
buyer of the Northwest that refuses to sell its food.^ 

The slave population of Florida at the outbreak of the 
war was approximately 60,000. Of this number fully 
40,000 were in the seven great planting counties of Middle 
Florida.^ According to the war-time memoranda of Gover- 
nor Milton there were 16,000 slaves in " East and South 
Florida " and 8,000 in " West Florida ". In the large 
planting counties were segregated not only the majority of 
the slaves but the greater part of all real and personal prop- 
erty, except cattle, " in which the East and the South ex- 
ceed ", stated Governor Milton.^ 

Florida was greatly exposed to invasion. Its 1,500 miles 
of seacoast, its navigable and unprotected rivers, its sparse 
population, its small home guard, all invited invasion. The 
presence of Federal troops in East Florida during 1862, re- 
sulting in the destruction of property and the loss of slaves, 

^ Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. i, p. 467; letter of May 10, 1861. 

^ U. S. Census, i860. The exact number given is 61,745, oi whom 
5,253 are denominated " mulattoes." Gov. Milton's papers indicate that 
the census estimate is too large. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 53, pp. 260-261 ; Milton to Davis, October 
10, 1862 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 223 

was followed by the passage of resolutions in the state 
legislature praying that the Confederate Conscript Law be 
suspended in Florida till March 15th, 1863, and that those 
who volunteered for Confederate service before March 
15th be required to serve within the state/ White men were 
needed at home not only to act as guards and to work in 
the fields, but to direct the work of the slave, and to with- 
draw the black population from before invading armies. 
" The safety of the Confederacy depends on the exemption 
of overseers for two reasons," declared Governor Milton. 
" I. because without them the slaves will not labor in a 
manner to secure subsistence for the armies in the field. 2. 
because if left without control of overseers the result will 
be insubordination and insurrection." ^ 

At the December session of the legislature, 1862, author- 
ity was conferred upon the governor to impress slaves for 
military work if so authorized by the Confederate govern- 
ment. Just compensation for the labor performed was to 
be made to owners of the slaves impressed. From time to 
time slaves were impressed to labor on fortifications at dif- 
ferent points in the state. ^ The Confederate congress pro- 
vided by law in February, 1864, for the impressment by 
states of 20,000 slaves for menial service in the Confederate 
army. Florida's quota was fixed by the war department at 
500.* In December, 1864, orders were issued for the im- 
pressment to begin. Owners of slaves were required to fur- 
nish " one good suit " of clothes for each of their slaves im- 

' Laws of Florida, 12th Session, 1862. Resolution no. 20. 

' Milton to Davis, Feb. 17, 1863. See also letter of May 23, 1863 ; 
and Davis to Milton, Sept. i, 1863 ; and Milton to Florida delegation 
in Congress (C. S.), Mar. 23, 1863 — Milton Papers, MSS. 

^ Laws of Florida, 12th Session, 1862, chapter 1378. 

■• 0/f. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, v. 3, p. 933 ; Confederate War Department, 
Bureau of Conscription, Richmond, Va. Circular no. 36, Dec. 12, 1864. 



224 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

pressed. In each congressional district of each state a 
board appointed by the secretary of war regulated impress- 
ments. The wages to be paid these slaves in Confederate 
service were not to exceed $25 per month. The Florida 
legislature enacted a law to enable the governor to carry out 
this order of the Confederate government. According to 
this state law impressments were to be made by the sheriffs 
" pro rata " in the name of the governor.^ 

Beyond thus enacting law for stricter patroling and for 
the regulation and apportionment of slave labor in the army, 
the Florida legislature found itself singularly free of the 
negro question during the war. Nor were the courts bur- 
dened with new theories or with more than the normal 
amount of litigation involving slaves or slavery." But the 
negro was not eliminated from public attention. The 
stupidest man realized the essential point in the great social 
issue of the war. Owners shifted their slaves from place 
to place to prevent capture, the military patrolled threat- 
ened districts to intercept runaway slaves and to prevent 
insurrection, and black regiments of ex-slaves invaded the 
state. 

The Federal government reports 1,044 Florida negroes 
enrolled as soldiers in the Union army during the war.* 
This was about one-tenth of the adult negro male popula- 
tion of military age.'* Most of the recruits were from East 
Florida. General Asboth, the American-Hungarian com- 
mander in Pensacola, West Florida, began to organize sev- 

^ Laws of Florida, Dec. 7, 1864. 

' The available court records show practically no change in the inter- 
pretation of law on the slavery question. The escape or capture of 
negro slaves occasionally upset contracts. See case of Russ vs. Mit- 
chell, Fla. Rpts., V. II, pp. 80-91. 

^ Off. Reds. Retell., s. iii, v. 4, pp. 1269-72, regiments of infantry. 

* Slave population of Florida in i860 was slightly in excess of 60,000. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 225 

eral companies of negro troops for his " Corps d'Afrique " 
in the autumn of 1862/ 

The negro as a soldier within the state was confined ex- 
clusively to the Northern side. However, the Confederate 
congress, the Confederate war department, and military and 
civil leaders in Florida and out of Florida discussed the ad- 
visability of using the black as a soldier. Most Southern 
whites who expressed opinions declared the slave to be unfit 
for the career of a soldier. Fighting was the white man's 
part, they said; acting as a camp follower, teamster, or 
laborer on fortifications was the only right sphere for the 
black in the Southern army. The work of a soldier with its 
responsibilities belonged to the superior race." The recent 
dictum of Jack London that " no man can fall lower than 
a soldier " ^ would not have been subscribed to by the rank 
and file of the Confederate armies. 

General Howell Cobb, who commanded in Central Flor- 
ida, set forth a point of view common to many Southerners 
when he said : 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 26, pt. i, pp. 818, 834 (Nov. 23, 1862) ; 
N. Y. Herald, Dec. 7, 1863 ; Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iii, v. 3, p. 925. On 
Oct. 26, 1863, Adj.-Gen. Lorenzo Thomas wrote Col. E. D. Townsend: 
" I have directed Brig-Gen. Asboth, recently assigned to command in 
western Florida, to gather in the negroes and organize them." 

"^ See Report J. A. Seddon, C. S. sec'y war, Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, 
V. 3, p. 756; also opinion of Jeff. Davis, p. 790, and Southern corres- 
pondence throughout Off. Reds. Also Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's 
Diary, v. 2, pp. 21, 24, 44, 413-14, containing references to policy of 
C. S. Congress on question of negro troops. Sen. Brown of Miss., in 
Feb. 1865, introduced a resolution for raising 200,000 negro troops for 
the Confederate army — the negroes to have their freedom for fighting. 
It was voted down, but on Mar. 8th the Senate passed the negro-troops 
bill. See Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 8, pp. 135, 199, 433-434 — protest to 
North against arming the blacks. 

* Chicago. Daily Socialist, Mar. 31, 191 1, from London's pamphlet 
issued in California condemning the army. 



226 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

I think that the proposition to make soldiers of our slaves is 
the most pernicious idea that has been suggested since the 
war began. . . . You cannot make soldiers of slaves or slaves 
of soldiers. The moment you resort to negro soldiers your 
white soldiers will be lost to you, and one secret of the favor 
with which the proposition is received in portions of the army 
is the hope when negroes go into the army they (the whites) 
will be permitted to retire. It is simply a proposition to fight 
the balance of the war with negro troops. You can't keep 
white and black troops together and you can't trust negroes by 
themselves. . . . Use all the negroes you can get for all pur- 
poses for which you need them, but don't arm them. The day 
you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the 
Revolution. If slaves make good soldiers our whole theory 
of slavery is wrong. ^ 

General Fatten Anderson, of Florida, declared that the 
proposal to arm the slaves was " a monstrous proposition, 
revolting to Southern sentiment, Southern pride, and 
Southern honor ".^ General Beauregard, commanding the 
department of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, be- 
lieved that the arming of the negroes would lead inevitably 
to the " atrocious consequences which have ever resulted 
from the employment of a merciless servile race as sol- 
diers ".' 

But the pressure for troops in the Confederate armies by 
the end of 1864 was awful. The South was being bled of 

^ Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 3, p. 1009 — Cobb to Seddon, Jan. 8, 1865. 
Some Southern leaders disagreed radically with the popular view. Gen. 
J. E. Johnston was petitioned by several Confederate military officers 
in Jan. 1864 to arm the blacks. Their spokesman was gallant Gen. Pat 
Cleburne. "Will the slaves fight?" wrote Cleburne. ". . . The experi- 
ence of this war has been, so far, that half-trained negroes have fought 
as bravely as many half-trained Yankees." 

^ Ibid., s. i, v. ?2, pt. 2, p. 598. 

' Ibid., s. i, v. 28, pt. 2, p. 13 — Beauregard to Gillmore, July 4, 1863. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 227 

its able-bodied whites. The shambles of each new battle- 
field lent intensity to the frantic call for more men. " Con- 
gress and the state legislatures have put in service all 
white men between the ages of 16 and 60 years," wrote 
Sam. Clayton, of Georgia, in January, 1865. 

We can't get them from the Old World or from any other 
country. We are thrown upon our own resources. The re- 
cruits should come from our negroes, nowhere else. We 
should away with pride of opinion, away with false pride, and 
promptly take hold of all the means God has placed within 
our reach to help us through this struggle — a bloody war for 
the right of self-government. Some people say negroes will 
not fight. I say they will fight. They fought at Ocean Pond 
(Olustee, Fla.), Honey Hill, and other places. The enemy 
fights us with negroes, and they will do very well to fight the 
Yankees.^ 

The foregoing was the other point of view fairly stated, in 
accord with which the Confederacy was surely moving 
when its end came. The Confederate congress authorized on 
March 3rd, 1865, the raising of 300,000 blacks as soldiers.^ 
On April the 28th, the major-general commanding in Flor- 
ida directed ten prominent citizens of Florida each " to pro- 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. iv, v. 3, pp. loio-ii. Judah P. Benjamin stated 
at this time : " It appears to me enough to say that the negroes will 
certainly be made to fight us if not armed for our defense. ... I fur- 
ther agree with you that if they are to fight for our freedom, they are 
entitled to their own. Public opinion is fast ripening on the subject." 
Jeff. Davis in a letter to John Forsythe in Feb., 1865 : " It is now be- 
coming daily more evident to all reflecting persons that we are re- 
duced to choosing whether the negroes shall fight for us or against us, 
and that all arguments as to the positive advantage or disadvantage 
of employing them are beside the question, which is simply one of 
relative advantage between having their fighting element in our ranks 
or in those of the enemy" (p. mo). See also his message to Con- 
gress, Mar. IS, 1865. 

'Ibid., s. iii, v. 5, pp. 711-12. 



228 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

ceed at once to raise a company of negroes to be mustered 
into the service of the Confederate States for the War "/ 
But Lee and Johnston had already surrendered. The disso- 
lution of the Confederacy defeated this last desperate meas- 
ure to recruit the decimated ranks of the Southern army. 

The black recruit was sought in Florida assiduously for 
the Union army after the first year of the war. In the 
spring and again in the autumn of 1862, Jacksonville was 
occupied and abandoned by Federal troops.^ When the Fed- 
eral forces quit the town in the autumn they carried some 
negroes away with them.® Invasion of East Florida by 
negro troops under Colonel Higginson quickly followed. 
"The object of this expedition," reported General Saxton. 
Higginson's chief, " was to occupy Jacksonville and make 
it the base of operations for arming the negroes and secur- 
ing in this way possession of the entire State of Florida " * 
— in other words, inciting servile insurrection. The Federal 
army failed to obtain many black recruits, but Higginson 
concluded that black troops " were the key to the successful 
prosecution of the war for the Union ".' 

The slaveholders of East Florida drew away into the in- 
terior before these negro-hunting raids. Confederate light 
cavalry patrolled the plantations. The invaders not only 
carried away slave property but they left behind seeds of a 
possible servile insurrection. " When it shall be ascertained 

^Off. Reds. RebelL, s. iv, v. 3, p. 1194. The notices to enlist negro 
troops were sent to the following Floridians : O. F. Jones, E. H. 
Bryan, M. Yonge, J. J. Jilks, B. F. Davis, G. Vv^. Kennedy, W. S. Du- 
pont, S. Parkhill, J. Linton, H. A. Ramsey. 

2 Cf. supra, chap. 7. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 14, p. 633 — Finegan to Cooper, Oct. 9, 
1862. N. y. Herald, Oct. 19, 1862. 

* Saxton to Stanton, Mar. 14, 1863 ; Moore, Rebell. Reds., v. 6, p. 444. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 14. p. 198. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 229 

satisfactorily by the slaves that the blacks are in actual war- 
fare for their liberties, sustained by bodies of white men," 
wrote Governor Milton in August, 1862, " is there not much 
reason to apprehend that insurrections and massacres will 
occur where they have a great excess of population over the 
white population ? " ' It was this possibility that haunted 
the slaveholder who lived in the region threatened with in- 
vasion.^ Colonel Brevard, of the Confederate army before 
Jacksonville, sent Captain Chambers in April, 1862, into 
Putnam county to ferret out the revelations of the negro 
Toby at " Econiah Scrub ". He was to arrest all concerned 
in the reported " conspiracy " but was admonished to act 
" cooly ".^ Here and there negro renegades in touch with 
the enemy were caught and hung by the patrolling cavalry.* 
On October 30th, 1862, Captain Dickison, a locally-re- 
nowned leader of light cavalry in East Florida, was ordered 
by the Confederate military authorities to remove into the 
interior all negro slaves apparently without owners and all 
free negroes.^ When a black negro-hunting army invaded 
East Florida during 1862, General Finegan, Confederate 
commander in East Florida, realized the situation and re- 
ported that 

the object is to hold the town of Jacksonville and to advance 
up the St. Johns and establish another position higher up the 
river, whence they may entice away the slaves. That the en- 
.tire negro, population of East Florida will be lost and the 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 52, pt. 2, p. 337— Milton's Letter, Aug. S, 
1862. 

* Scores of references to this dread in the hundreds of letters, orders, 
and reports scattered throughout the Off. Reds. Rebell. See, for in- 
stance, s. i, V. 52, pt. 2, p. 373; V. 53, pp. 258, 261; V. I, p. 467; s. iv, 
V. 2, pp. 56-58, 838 — particularly letter of Davis, Nov. 26, 1862, p. 211. 

*Ibid., s. i, V. 14, p. 863. *Ibid., s. i, v. 53, p. 233. 

^ Ibid., s. i, v. 14, p. 661. 



230 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



country ruined there cannot be a doubt unless the means of 
holding the St. Johns are immediately supplied. . . . The en- 
tire planting interests of East Florida lie within easy connec- 
tion of the river ; . . . intercourse will immediately commence 
between negroes on the plantation and those in the enemy's 
service ; . . . and this intercourse will be conducted through 
swamps and under cover of night, and cannot be prevented. 
A few weeks will suffice to corrupt the entire slave jxjpulation 
of East Florida.^ 

The first black troops used in Florida were the First and 
Second South Carolina Volunteers — regiments organized 
at Beaufort, South Carolina, in response to orders issued by 
General David Hunter in May, 1862.^ The recruits came 
from South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.^ Colonel 
Thomas Wentworth Higginson commanded the First Regi- 
ment, and Colonel James Montgomery, the Second. 
" There appeared in various New York newspapers early 
in 1863," wrote Higginson, many years afterwards, 

a report that there was in Florida a " great volcano about 
bursting whose lava will burn and destroy," and this was fur- 
ther defined as being the sudden appearance in arms of 5,000 
negroes, a " liberating host, not the phantom but the reality 
of a servile insurrection." The fact which lay behind these 
preposterous exaggerations was simply an expedition up the 
St. Johns River of two black regiments under my command.* 

These two negro regiments from South Carolina, led by. 
Higginson and Montgomery, were sent by General Hunter 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 14, p. 226. 

' Ibid., s. i, V. 14, p. I. See article by Higginson in Freedmen's 
Record, Aug. 1865. Higginson shows that the ist S. C. was the first 
black regiment mustered into the service of the United States, Nov. 7, 
1862. One company of this regiment was organized in May, 1862. 

* Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment, passim. 

* Civil War Papers, v. 2, p. 467. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 23 1 

to occupy Jacksonville; ... to carry the Proclamation of 
Freedom to the enslaved ; to call all loyal men into the service 
of the United States ; to occupy as much of the State of Florida 
as possible ; and to neglect no means consistent with the usages 
of civilized warfare to weaken, harass, and annoy those who 
are in rebellion against the United States.^ 

As the expedition was primarily a recruiting expedition 
a double supply of arms and ammunition was carried. News 
of the arrival of these black troops spread with sinister 
rapidity over East Florida. A " loyal white woman " re- 
ported to Higginson that 1,600 negroes were in the woods 
about Jacksonville awaiting a chance to enter Federal 
lines. ^ General Joseph Finegan, Confederate commander 
in East Florida, reported 4,000 blacks in Jacksonville with 
one company of white troops.^ These reports were gross 
exaggerations. Slave owners and the Confederate military 
were making desperate efforts to keep the blacks at home, 
and were succeeding. General Saxton, in notifying the Fed- 
eral war department of this occupation of Jacksonville 
(March, 1863), declared that " large bodies of able-bodied 
negroes in Florida were waiting for an opportunity to join 
the Federal forces." 

" The negroes of Florida," he affirmed, 

are far more intelligent than any I have yet seen, and fully 
understand their position and the intention of the Government 
toward them. They will fight with as much desperation as 
any people in the World. I have many of these Florida men 
in the First South Carolina Regiment and no one who knows 
anything about the regiment now doubts its efficiency. ... I 
feel great hopes that we shall strike a heavy blow in Florida. 
There is at present a great scarcity of muskets in this Depart- 

^ Civil War Papers, v. 2, p. 468. "^ Ibid., p. 471. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 14, p. 226. 



232 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



ment. If this want is supplied, it is my opinion that the entire 
State of Florida can be rescued from the enemy and an asylum 
established for persons from other States who are freed from 
bondage by the Proclamation.^ 

Six months before this, Governor Milton had expressed 
very emphatically his opinion of the Federal policy toward 
Florida, vis., to make of the state " a waste, a howling 
wilderness, or to colonize it with negroes." ^ 

After the occupation of Jacksonville detachments of the 
First and Second South Carolina Volunteers proceeded up 
the St. Johns river as far as Palatka, collecting negro re- 
cruits, stealing, and plundering. A Federal gunboat with 
supplies and reserve troops accompanied the raiders. The 
plantation homes of Messrs. Baza, Dupont, Sanchez, Dancy, 
Mays, Ballings, Simkins, Cole, and others w^ere plundered 
by the marauders. Poultry was appropriated. Hogs, horses, 
and beeves were stolen or slaughtered; smoke-houses and 
corn-cribs, stripped ; feasts eaten in spacious dining-rooms 
by the one-time slaves. Household furniture broken up. 
Trunks and chests were rifled. Women were insulted and 
abused. The torch was applied to out-houses and barns. 
At the Du Pont place the soldiers threatened to burn the 
family home if the hiding place of the family slaves was 
not revealed.^ Federal tax commissioners and treasury 
agents seeking property to confiscate * accompanied expe- 
ditions and exercised a restraining influence on the destruc- 
tive proclivities of the raiders. At Palatka the Federal 
force was ambushed by Dickison's cavalry, and with some 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 14, p. 423 — letter of Mar. 6, 1863. 
^ Ibid., s. i, V. 53, p. 258 — Milton to Seddon, Oct. 5, 1862. 
^ Ibid., s. i, V. 14, pp. 232, 238-9, 860-61. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. 35, pt. I, pp. 388-89 — for an instance, Report Gen. Bir- 
ney, May 6, 1864. Disposition of schooners taken at Smyrna. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 233 

loss in killed and wounded — among the latter Lieutenant- 
Colonel Liberty Billings of the First South Carolina — it re- 
embarked on the gunboat for Jacksonville. When that 
town was evacuated, March 31st, 1863, houses were burned 
and plundering was indulged in by both black and white 
troops.^ 

Negro soldiers operated as raiders with numerous expe- 
ditions in East Florida from 1863 until the end of the war.^ 
In West Florida they aided white troops in sacking the vil- 
lages of Eucheanna and Marianna.^ At Tampa they obeyed 
the orders of white leaders in shooting defenseless people/ 
Negro troops traversed the country adjacent to Cedar Keys, 
St. Andrews bay, and Pensacola, destroying and stealing.^ 
They fought in the skirmishes of Marianna and Natural 
Bridge and played a prominent part in the battle of Olustee. 

It seemed to be the settled policy of the Federal govern- 
ment to use black troops in Florida. A dozen different 

' Cf. supra, chap. 7. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 397, 435. In May, 1864, Capt. 
Dickison defeated a small raiding expedition on the St. John's, v. 35, 
pt. 2. p. 363. See also v. 35, pt. i, pp. 2>2, Z7 (Sept. 28, 1864, in Volusia 
Co.), 38 (Oct. 4, 1864, in Volusia Co.; Oct. 24, 1864, west of Magno- 
lia), 393-98 (along St. John river. May 19-24, 1864), 401-3 (near Jack- 
sonville, June 2-3, 1864), etc. 

3 Ibid., pp. 443-445 — Sept. 18 to Oct. 4, 1864 (82nd U. S. Colored 
Infy.) ; Brevard and Bennett, History of Florida, pp. 168-170. 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 389-391 (2nd U. S. Colored 
Infy. and 2nd Fla. Cavalry). Several citizens "arrested at the hotel." 
Some tried to escape ; i shot dead and 2 wounded. 

* Raiding by negroes in West Florida (Florida west of the Apalachi- 
cola river) occurred during the last year of the war. In July, 1864, 
black raiders came into Washington County from St. Andrews Bay, 
taking horses, mules, cattle, corn, meat, and slaves. See letter of Col. 
Montgomery (C. S. A.) to Capt. Call, July 24, 1864, from Marianna; 
also letter of Gov. Milton to Gen. Jackson, Aug. 7, 1864 — Milton 
Papers; and Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 405-408, 413-419. 



234 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

negro regiments recruited in various parts of the Union saw 
service in Florida before the end of the war/ 

Some Northern military men were enthusiastic over the 
soldierly qualities of the negro. Colonel Beard of the 48th 
New York Infantry, who commanded negro troops in Flor- 
ida, reported that the " colored men fought with astonish- 
ing bravery and coolness ".^ General Saxton, in referring to 
Florida, declared that " negroes fought with coolness and 
bravery, fighting as if to vindicate manhood and did it 
well ". 

" The blacks are better than white soldiers in this part of 
the country," he said.^ 

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who gained notoriety by 
leading negro soldiers in Florida, stated that " nobody 
knows about blacks who has not seen them in battle. Their 
fiery courage is above anything I have ever seen or read — 
except French Zouaves." * A Northern war-correspondent 
present at Fort Meyers, South Florida, when it was at- 
tacked by Confederate cavalry stated that " the colored sol- 
diers were in the thickest of the fight and could hardly be 
restrained; they seemed totally unconcerned of danger and 
the constant cry was ' to get at them '." " 

The actual efficiency of black troops was far' under these 
enthusiastic estimates. The blacks usually gave way under 
determined attack. They were swept off the field at Olus- 

' The following were the negro regiments, all infantry: 3rd, 7th, 8th, 
34th, 82nd, 102nd U. S. Colored Troops; the ist, 2nd and 3rd S. C. 
Volunteers; the ist N. C. Volunteers; the 54th and 55th Mass. Colored 
Infantry. See Off. Reds. Retell., passim. 

"^ Ibid., s. i, V. 14, p. 191. 

3 Ibid., p. 189. 

^ Ibid., p. 195. See also Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment, 
passim. 

^N. Y. Times, March 18, 1865. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 235 

tee, Jacksonville, Palatka, and Natural Bridge. Their 
most valuable services to the Union were as guide, spy,^ and 
plunderer. Their presence in Florida as soldiers caused 
terror to the unprotected white families and hurt sentiment 
for the Union. Southerners were nerved to greater effort 
because they realized that a servile race was being employed 
to subdue them. "It is my belief," declared General Saxton, 
" that scarcely an incident in this war has caused greater 
panic throughout the whole South coast than this raid of 
colored troops in Florida." ^ 

The black soldier did not prove to be any more barbarous 
than the white. President Lincoln encouraged the use of 
negro soldiers in Florida. " I am glad to see the accounts 
of your colored force at Jacksonville, Florida," he wrote 
privately to General Hunter. " I see the enemy are driving 
at them fiercely, as is to be expected. It is important to the 
enemy that such a force shall not take shape and grow and 
thrive in the South, and in precisely the same proportion it 
is important to us that it shall." ^ 

Within Federal lines the negro furnished the newcomer 
from the North opportunity for charitable experimentation. 
Military leaders wanted the able-bodied men, but were bur- 
dened and worried by the women, children, and infirm. By 
the beginning of 1864 the Freedman's Aid Society had with 
the help of the Federal military established common schools 
for negro children at St. Augustine, Fernandina, and Jack- 
sonville.* The Rev. Dr. Barrows was superintendent of 

^ Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, pp. 57, 229, 283, 293. N. Y. Herald, Mar. 
18, 20, 1862; N. Y. Times, Mar. 15, 1862; N. Y. Tribune, Mar. 24, 1862. 

* Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 6, p. 444. 

^ Nicolay and Hay, Lineoln, Complete Wks., v. 2, p. 321 — letter of 
Apr. I, 1863. 

* A^. Y. Tribune, Aug. 17, 1864. A''. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1864. Schools 
were established in Fernandina in Dec, 1862 — Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 
6, p. 61. 



236 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

these schools which were taught by a half-dozen women 
from the North. In Jacksonville the Odd Fellows hall was 
seized by the United States provost marshal and turned 
over to the Rev. Barrows for a school building. There a 
school was opened for blacks and whites. It is reported 
that when the white children of the town remonstrated 
against attending school in company with blacks, Mrs. 
Hawks, the lady principal, said, " Very well, the colored 
children will be educated even if you are not." 

" This argument," continues the account, " proved ef- 
fective, and the two classes are pursuing studies harmon- 
iously." ^ Thus was a first step taken in the social revo- 
lution. 

Only about one hundred pupils (black and white) were 
enrolled in the Jacksonville school. This war-time experi- 
ment in education in East Florida did not prove successful, 
partly because small-pox became epidemic among the few 
negroes available for scholars. By the end of 1864 the 
negro schools of East Florida, established under the bay- 
onets of an army of occupation, were closed.'^ 

But education did not cease for the black with the clos- 
ing of the schools. Federal military camps were the places 
where the negroes received their first instruction in popular 
ideals from the North, in " loyalty " to the Union, and in 
" politics ". The ex-slave took part in patriotic demon- 
strations. The promulgation of the Emancipation Procla- 

^ N. Y. Tribune, Apr. i, 1864. See also Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 6, p. 
61, quotation from letter from Fernandina, Fla., published in Wisconsin 
State Journal: " The progress made by the pupils more than equals 
the expectation of the most sanguine friends of the race. The children 
(blacks) have evinced an aptitude to learn fully equal to the children 
of the North, and in all the better characteristics they are in no way 
behind us," etc. 

* N. Y. Tribune, Aug. 17, 1864. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 237 

mation was the occasion of a " negro celebration " at Key 
West. 250 blacks with waving flags and military music 
paraded the streets and went for dinner to the " Barra- 
coons ". The procession was stoned by whites and the flag 
taken from the leader and the flag staff broken over his 
head.^ 

The anniversaries of the proclamation (1864-65) were 
again the occasion for negro parades in Jacksonville, Key 
West, and St. Augustine.^ The Federal military co-oper- 
ated. At St. Augustine, in 1864, the regimental bands of 
the 24th Massachusetts and loth Connecticut united in ren- 
dering national airs — marching about town followed by a 
mob of elated negroes — men, women, and children. At the 
" picnic grounds " Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation 
was read. Federal Tax-Commissioner Stickney and offi- 
cers of the Federal military in garrison spoke to the assem- 
bled crowd on patriotism and citizenship. Stickney was at 
the time engaged in swindling his government and his 
friends.^ Negro school children sang " Thrice Happy 
Days " and Whittier's " Negro Boatman's Song ".* 

To the one-time slave inured to the simple and monot- 
onous life of the plantation, this marching and counter- 
marching to sweet music ; this flash of color, waving of 
flags, and donning of soldier suits with brass buttons; this 
deep interest expressed by his white friends in his mental 
well-being, which, in fact, he little understood ; this feast- 
ing, this resting, and this singing — all combined to produce 
mental exhilaration which spelled demoralization for the 
old regime of work. He was moving too fast toward re- 

^ A''. Y. Herald, Feb. 11, 1863 — letter from Key West correspondent. 

"^ N. Y. Times, Jan. 22,, 1864, and Jan. 15, 1865. A''. Y. Tribune, Jan. 
23, 1864. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 38 C, 2 S., no. 18 — papers of Fla. Tax Commissioners. 

* A''. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1864 ; N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 23, 1864. 



238 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



generation. Once within the Federal lines he seldom re- 
turned as slave to his former haunts. For him the old 
regime was at an end. " Thank Gawd," he said, " Der 
juberlee have come. Glory be to Jesus and Marse Linkum." 

The legal status of the negro in Florida during the first 
eighteen months of war perplexed the few conscientious 
and careful Federal commanders stationed there. ^ The 
first Federal Confiscation Act, August 6th, 1861, made it the 
duty of the President to confiscate all property used in " aid- 
ing, abetting or promoting " the war against the Union.^ 
Slaves were considered contraband of war when employed, 
in any military or naval service against the Union, and 
were accordingly forfeited. Where the negro was owned 
by a " loyal " white and had not been used to oppose the 
government of the United States, he was clearly a slave of 
unchanged position in the law of the United States ; but 
where the owner was known to be or suspected of being 
" disloyal " to the Union, then to some the black's position 
seemed in doubt. What was the condition, in law, of fugi- 
tive slaves, and what of slaves belonging to the " disloyal " 
and not used in " aiding, abetting," etc., the " insurrection " 
against the Union? 

Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, for example, wrote from St. Au- 
gustine on April 5th, 1862, to department headquarters ask- 
ing for definite instructions regarding the status of slaves of 
the disloyal. " I have retained such slaves, furnishing them 
with food and compelling them to work, and simply exclud- 

* Both the Federal army and navy had taken away negro slaves be- 
fore the summer of 1862 — claiming the act under the Federal Confisca- 
tion Act of Aug. 6, 1861. For instances, see the case of Stellwagen 
at Apalachicola in April, 1862 — Rebell. Red., v. 4, p. 76; N. Y. Herald, 
Apr. 21, 1862; raid on St. Andrews bay — Off. Red. Rebell, s. i, v. 53, 
p. 230 — Apr. 7, 1862. 

" U, S. Stats, at Large, v. 12, p. 319. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 



239 



ing other slaves from the fort"/ Department headquarters 
seemed as much at sea on this question as the commanders 
asking for instruction. At some points in Florida slaves 
M^ere kept, fed, clothed, and presumably made to work by 
the Federal military. "In other cases," said General Saxton, 
" slaves reputed to belong to rebel masters have been em- 
ployed at high rates, whose wages were paid to agents of 
those masters (among these cases are the slaves of ex-Sen- 
ator Mallory)." ' 

General Hunter attempted logically to simplify the situa- 
tion by issuing an order on May 9th, 1862, which declared 
that as "slavery and martial law are incompatible," therefore 
within the department of the South, which he commanded 
(Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida), all persons held 
as slaves were free.*^ President Lincoln read in the public 
press, one week after its promulgation, the astounding con- 
clusion reached by Hunter in South Carolina.* Forthwith 
the President firmly revoked the general's order, May 19th, 
1862,^ and the condition of slaves in Florida was for the 
time as anomalous as ever, beyond the patent fact that they 
were not legally free men. 

On July 17th, 1862, the second Federal Confiscation Act 
was enacted, which very definitely settled the status of the 
slaves of the " disloyal " when those slaves came within 
Federal lines.^ They were to be deemed " captives of war " 
and " forever free of their servitude ". The slave was de- 
clared free in this case as a penalty for the master's par- 
ticipation in the " rebellion ".'' 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 14. p. 333. -Ibid., p. 375. 

'Ibid., p. 341. Ge.i. Order no. 11. 

* Rhodes, J. F., Hist, of U. S., v. 4, p. 65. 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, Complete IVks., v. 2, pp. 155-56, 205-6. 
® Statutes at Large, v. 12, pp. 590-592. 

' Dunning, Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction, p. 36. - 



240 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Five days later, July 22nd, the President ordered the Fed- 
eral military commanders to employ at wages as many 
negroes as they should see fit/ Blacks belonging to the 
" loyal " were slaves. Blacks belonging to the " disloyal " 
were " free captives of war " when within Federal lines. 

These various statutes and orders respecting slaves did 
not very immediately affect the mass of Florida's black 
population because so small a portion of it was within Fed- 
eral lines; but at Key West a troublesome situation de- 
veloped. Here a number of white men loyal to the Union 
held slaves. Colonel Morgan, of the 48th New York In- 
fantry, who succeeded Colonel Brannan as commandant at 
Key West, was hostile to slavery and slaveholders. Lin- 
coln's revocation of Hunter's emancipation order did not 
deter the Key West commandant from attempting abolition 
locally. 

It was supposed that Morgan's mouthpiece at Key West 
was the New Era, an abolition journal whose editor was 
spoken of as " Morgan's Man Friday ".^ On August 9th, 
an editorial in this journal declared that " slavery cannot 
exist here and does not at this moment ; there is not a negro 
lawfully held to service in Key West ". Three weeks later, 
August 30th, a leading editorial stated that " An uprising of 
slaves would not be permitted, but a slave can declare him- 
self free, refuse to work, and still be protected by martial 
law ; for it does not recognize slavery any more than it does 
secession. . . . The master cannot punish a slave without 
committing an offense against martial law ".^ 

Already the few hundred negro slaves in Key West, in- 
spired probably by the military, were " sassy " and insub- 

' Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, Complete Wks., v. 2, p. 212. 
» N. Y. Herald, Oct. 26, 1862. 
3 Ibid. 



THE NEGRO AND THE WAR 24I 

ordinate to their "loyal" owners/ The New Era was in sub- 
stantial accord with instructions given Colonel Morgan, of 
Key West, by his superior, General Terry, on August 14th. 
These instructions — a sort of code of Federal procedure 
toward slavery — declared that no aid would be given by the 
military to any master to compel his slave to obey him ; that 
masters found guilty by the military of cruel treatment of 
slaves would be duly punished ; that slaves of the "disloyal" 
would be protected by the military from any control by 
agents of their former masters; and that violence publicly 
offered by one person to another for the enforcement of 
obedience or labor would be punished by the military.^ 

There was no advance in principle from these instruc- 
tions to the revolutionary order of Colonel Morgan, issued 
September 5th. " A necessity having occurred," he an- 
nounced on that day, 

by the prevailing epidemic for the employment of persons of 
African descent, including those held to service or labor under 
state laws in the various parts of this command, the Provost 
Marshal is authorized to employ such persons seeking employ- 
ment and send them to the headquarters of the quartermaster ; 
and it shall be the duty of the quartermaster to cause accurate 
lists to be made sufficient in detail to show from whom such 
persons shall have come. Persons so subject and so employed 
have always understood that after being received into the mili- 
tary service of the United States in any capacity they could 
not be reclaimed by their former owners. . . . The Colonel 
commanding, therefore, from precedents already established, 
feels authorized to declare that all persons so employed as 

^ N. Y. Herald, Oct. 5, 1862— letter from Key West, Sept. 29 : " Ne- 
groes in Key West, with all mistaken notions of freedom, refuse to 
work except at exorbitant wages," etc. 

•"Terry's Code," A''. Y. Times, Oct. 4, 1862— dated "Key West, 
Aug. 14." 



242 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



above shall receive permanent military protection against any 
compulsory return to a condition of servitude. . . . No force 
or undue persuasion will be permitted to be used to recover 
such fugitive property.^ 

Thus by subterfuge were the slaves of Key West prac- 
tically emancipated more than two weeks before Lincoln 
issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.^ With 
the beginning of 1863 the legal aspect of the negro ques- 
tion in Florida was much simplified for Federal military 
commanders because the emancipation of the slaves within 
the " rebellious states " became by executive proclamation 
the supreme law of the Union, certainly so long as the war 
lasted. 

' N. Y. Herald, Oct. 26, 1862. 

' For a defense of Col. Morgan's action at Key West, see N. Y. Sun- 
day Mercury, Nov. 2, 1862. Union sentiment at Key West discussed in 
N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 7, 1862, in letter of Chaplain Bass of 90th N. Y. — 
Oct. 20, 1862. See also editorial, N. Y. Tribune, Mar. 30, 1863. 



CHAPTER X 

Internal Opposition to the Confederacy : Unionists 
AND Deserters 

The term, " Union man ", was applied rather indiscrimi- 
nately during the Civil War to those men who were known 
to have consciously aided, abetted, or furthered in some 
fashion by word or deed the cause of the Union in its con- 
flict with the Confederacy. From a Confederate sympa- 
thizer the term was generally an unfavorable epithet, asso- 
ciated with the darkest side of war, with cowardice, traitor- 
ous action, raiding, and plundering. Yet some eminently 
good and honored men in Florida sympathized with the 
Union, such men, for instance, as ex-Governor Call, of 
Tallahassee, and Judge Marvin, of Key West. Their char- 
acters, however, did not materially afifect public opinion. 
" On our burning homesteads ye may write, ' we found no 
Union Man V' wrote some long-since forgotten Southerner 
of those times,^ and he gave but an inkling of the passionate 
resentment of the Southern secessionists toward neighbors 
who aided and abetted the enemy. 

With the enlightened Unionists, the " Union man " was 
more or less a hero who suffered loss and bore persecution 
for the Union's sake — or even better, for high principle's 
sake. One confused rhymester, raised to a high pitch of en- 
thusiastic perplexity by the terrible events of the hour, 
began his poem : 

^ Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 7, p. 59. 

243 



244 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

" ' O Mother !' exclaimed a bright boy as he ran, 
' Our God whom we serve is a Union Man, 
And the Union can never cease.' 
' My patriot Boy! Why, why think you so? 
The Rebels all boast that Jehovah doth know 
Their cause is the right and the true,' " etc., 

which way of looking at the matter calls up an aspiring 
Southern ode which in all Byronic seriousness began, 
" Rebels ! 'Tis a holy name ".* 

Any attempt to estimate the number and influence of 
Union sympathizers in Florida is apt to prove difficult and 
to yield meagre results in exact figures or conclusive state- 
ments. In the aggregate, their number was never propor- 
tionally large, but their influence in parts of Florida was 
considerable enough to merit some attention in an account 
of the war. 

The class included several varieties, but sub-classification 
cannot go very far and must depend upon opinions held. 
Knowledge of opinion is in reality difficult to obtain, and 
opinions themselves shift continually with those inevitable 
changes that take place in objective conditions. Union men 
may be grouped in two broad classes : first, men of Northern 
and foreign birth lately come to Florida; second, poor 
native southern-whites who deserted from the Confederate 
army or who sought to avoid conscription. 

The Northern-born men were in most cases holders of 
considerable property or were large traders for their com- 
munities — usually seaport towns. They were merchants, 
lumbermen, real-estate dealers, small bankers, physicians, 
and even planters. Many had come into Florida since 1850. 
Their traditions were anti-slavery. Their more distant 
home ties were still strongly Northern. They were section- 
alized on the slavery question before they reached Florida. 

' Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 5, p. 36. * fbid., v. 4, p. 4. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 



245 



All Northern-born people within the state in i860 numbered 
but 1,908/ They came principally from New York, Con- 
necticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania — 688 of 
the number hailing from New York and 908 from the New 
England states. Some Northern-born citizens proved 
staunch and valiant upholders of the Confederacy,^ but 
probably a majority of the " Yankees " in Florida were out- 
and-out Union sympathizers. There were 3,309 persons of 
foreign birth in Florida, according to the census of i860. 
A large number of them were Germans. The foreign-born 
population divided on the questions of secession and slavery. 
From these figures it is seen that, at most, the relative num- 
ber of non-Southern Unionists among Florida's 75,000 
free inhabitants could not be large. 

In regard to Southern white Unionists, the secession 
crisis showed the existence of such a class. This crisis, with 
its complex abstractions on constitutional questions, its 
bitterness in practical politics, its economic appeal to the 
slave-holder and Southern debtor, its demand for ready 
obedience and unusual sacrifice to the state, appealed 
differently to different classes. The fairly enlightened 
Southern planter and merchant possessed a comfortable 
home, broad acres, some slaves to do his manual work, 
and usually a positive role in local politics. The illiterate 
back-woodsman — " kasion ", " cracker ", " poor white " 
or " red-neck " of to-day — almost cut off from the 
mass of his fellow men, knowing little about the subtler 
issues of the war, caring little for " civic " obedience 
or " national patriotism ", and interested not one whit in 

* Census of i860. 

* As for instance Brig.-Gen. Wm. Miller, a native of Mass., who led 
the Confederates in the desperate defense of Tallahassee, 1865. Off. 
Reds. Retell. , s. i, v. 49, pt. i, passim. 



246 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

the purely economic question of preserving slavery, could 
see little for him in the war. His family was dependent im- 
mediately on his crude muscular effort for a meagre living 
at best, and the muscular effort was as meagre as the living. 
The margin of supplies ahead with such a family was small. 
The failure of a five-acre crop, the death of a few cows, the 
burning of a barn, meant their temporary ruin. The poor 
white of the South was often disloyal to the Southern re- 
public, because economic and class conditions left his family 
destitute an*! isolated when the "men folks" were in the 
army. The wonder is that the vast majority of the poor 
whites supported the war, with heroic firmness, to the bitter 
end. Barbarous raiding by Northern armies brought the 
war home to them. A small minority of the poor whites 
proved to be Unionists or deserters. The size of this class 
hostile to the Confederacy increased decidedly toward the 
end of the war. Florida furnished about 1,300 white re- 
cruits to the Northern armies.^ Some of them were North- 
ern-born and foreign-born. The enforcement of the Con- 
script Act in Florida furnished the Confederate army 2,362 
men.^ A large number of these " conscripts " were passive 
Union sympathizers. 

In 1 86 1, probably not more than 4,000 men and women 
in Florida were Union sympathizers. By 1865, the number 
had doubled. The proportion, therefore, of Unionists 
ampng the approximately 75,000 white inhabitants varied 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. iii, v. 4, p. 1269. The actual number is put at 
1,290 three-year volunteers. 1,044 black recruits came from Florida. 
Alabama, with more than three times the population, furnished to the 
Union army 2,576 whites and 4,969 blacks. 

^ Ibid., s. iii, v. 5, p. 701. This conclusion is based on a report by the 
Chf. of Confed. Confis. Bu., Feb., 1865. His report covers from the 
date of enactment of Conscript Law, Apr. 16, 1862, to Feb., 1865. 
Only 362 of the number came from " conscript camps." 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 247 

between 5 per cent and 10 per cent — made-up of Northern- 
born, foreign-born and native Southerners/ 

Practically all parts of the state were at first dominated 
by the secessionists. Only as Federal military lines were 
extended to include restricted sections along the coast did 
the Unionists assert themselves, and such assertion was as a 
rule very feeble. The history of Key West furnishes an 
exception to this general condition. For the first few 
months after secession the town was divided between the 
secessionists and the Unionists." When Florida left the 
Union all Federal civil officials at Key West, except District 
Judge Marfan and the collector of customs, resigned their 
offices.^ For several weeks the judge had no marshal to 
execute his orders, and in some instances he was prevented 
from deciding salvage cases.* Key West is built on an 
island, then remote from the settled mainland of Florida 
and watched over by Federal regulars and gunboats. 

The secession cause in Key West was voiced by an ag- 
gressive journal entitled Key of the Gulf. It savagely at- 
tacked Judge Marvin and other Unionists. Marvin's 
friends in his defense claimed that the attacks were inspired 
by certain business men engaged in the " wrecking and sal- 
vage " business. The decisions of Marvin as admiralty 
judge were distasteful to them, and therefore they wished 
to get rid of him.' Early in May, 1861, Mr. McQueen Mc- 

* Off. Reds. RebelL, s. iv, v. 3, pp. iioi, 1109; s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, pp. 12, 
63, 215; V. 2, pt. I, p. 817. N. Y. Times, Apr. 2, 1862; Jan. 23, 1864; 
Mar. 18, 1865. N. Y. Herald, May 20, 1864; Mar. 25, 1865. Milton 
Papers, 1863-4 — letters of Milton to Mallory and Beauregard. 

' See N. Y. Herald, June 6, 1861 ; A^. Y. Times, Feb. 28, 1862 ; N. Y. 
Tribune, Nov. 7, 1862, etc. 

* U. S. Off. Directory, 1861 ; N. Y. Times, Mar. 13, 1862. 
*N. Y. Herald, Apr. 12, 1861. 

*A'^. Y. Times, Mar. 13, 1861. 



248 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Intosh arrived at Key West as the new appointee of the 
state of Florida to the bench occupied by Marvin. The 
claimant had been a prominent member of the secession 
convention. With him came a district attorney. Mcintosh 
demanded of Marvin the surrender of all records and papers 
pertaining to the office of district judge. Marvin refused 
to comply. Popular opinion of the whites in Key West 
might have been with Mcintosh, but Federal guns were back 
of Marvin, and therefore the state appointee, seeing that in- 
sistance was useless, left for the mainland.^ 

During the spring of 1861 two military companies were 
organized among the Union sympathizers of Key West, for 
" upholding the laws of the United States ". Major 
French, the Federal commander, issued orders that no civil 
or military official of the state of Florida or of the 
Confederate government, was to be recognized or obeyed.^ 
On authority from President Lincoln,^ he put the town 
under martial law, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, and 
suppressed by force the journal Key of the Gulf. A 
Methodist preacher-militant invoked Heaven against the 
Federal government, and was promptly arrested by order of 
Major French.* " Key West has a thoroughly Union-lov- 
ing population, largely owing to Major French's exer- 
tions," stated the local correspondent of the New York 

^ N. Y. Herald, May 24, 1861 ; N. Y. Times, Mar. 13, 1862 ; N. Y. 
Sunday Mercury, Nov. 2, 1862. Marvin held his office till the summer 
of 1863, when he voluntarily resigned. A^. Y. Herald, July 21, 1863. 

" A^. y. Herald, May 18, 24, 1861 ; A^. Y. Times, Mar. 13, 1862. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell, s. iii, v. i, pp. 184-5, Proclam. of Lincoln, May 
10, 1861, allowing suspension of writ of habeas corpus in Key West. 

* N. Y. Herald, July 7, i86i(?) (Townsend Library, Columbia Univ.). 
See also Marvin's charge to the grand jury at Key West for a discus- 
sion of what was treason. A'^. Y. Herald, Nov. 26, 1861. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 



249 



Herald.^ Eight months later we hear of " a deep and abid- 
ing hatred of the Federal government in the breasts of a 
large portion of the community." ^ 

The town during the entire war was without the sphere 
of operation of Florida laws — a local government under 
military jurisdiction.^ As late as the autumn of 1862 a dis- 
gruntled regimental chaplain in Key West stated : " I be- 
lieve that three-quarters of the people here would at least 
be perfectly reconciled and resigned to the will of God 
would it please Him to lay the whole regiment, yea, every 
other regiment, in the dust." * He no doubt told the truth. 

As the war progressed, the manifestations of Union sen- 
timent in Florida underwent some change. The enforce- 
ment of the Confederate Sequestration Act after Sep- 
tember 13th, 1861, confiscating the property of alien ene- 
mies, ° forced many persons in Florida to go on record 
as Southern or Northern sympathizers. Hundreds, who 
found themselves in embarrassing positions, hid for the 
time not only record of any property North, but the truth 
concerning their sympathies as well, in order to pro- 

» N. y. Herald, June 6, 1861. 

» N. Y. Times, Feb. 28, 1862. 

' Local civil rule was restored in Key West by order of the Mil. 
Commander, Dec. 29, 1862. These orders directed " civil oflficers, legally 
elected and who had taken the oath to the U. S., to resume their func- 
tions," in conformity with the constitution of the U. S. and the order 
of the President and war dept. "Militaiy authority will reserve to itself 
the control over all arrivals and departures from the island and the 
sale of spirituous liquors. The provost marshal will take charge of all 
property in Key West owned by persons known to be engaged in the 
Rebellion." N. Y. Herald, Jan. 10, 1863. 

* N. y. Tribune, Nov. 7, 1862. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, v. i, pp. 586-92 (passed Aug. 30, 1861), 
932-9 (amendment Feb. 15, 1862). McPherson, Rebell., p. 203 (order 
of enforcement of Act by Atty. Gen. Benjamin, Sept. 12, 1861). 



250 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tect their property South. With Federal invasion which 
began in 1862, came the enforcement of the Federal Con- 
fiscation Act/ The property of those who had taken up 
arms against the Union was seized. Northern civil officials 
and benevolent speculators came with the armies of inva- 
sion.^ Such individuals, interested in the moral uplift of 
the negro and the sale of abandoned and confiscated prop- 
erty, slightly augmented the ranks of the nominal Union 
men. 

In East Florida, the Unionists, stimulated by the presence 
of a friendly army, attempted political organization. Their 
political principles were set forth in numerous resolutions 
which were spread abroad in Northern newspapers, thereby 
giving an exaggerated and formal importance in the eyes 
of outsiders (among them President Lincoln ^) to those in 
Florida who opposed the Confederacy. 

The first political demonstration of Union men in Flor- 
ida followed by a few days the first occupation of Jackson- 
ville by Union troops in the spring of 1862. When General 
Sherman reached that town he was at once waited on by 
Union sympathizers. They represented how bright the 
cause of the Union would be as long as Federal soldiers 
were present and how perilous their position would be if 
troops were withdrawn.* Only a few days before — ere the 
invading army had reached Jacksonville — much property 
had been burned by Confederate troops in and about Jack- 
sonville; and the owners seem to have been mostly among 

* U. S. Statutes at Large, v. 12 (Confiscation Acts) ; McPherson, 
Rebell., p. 208 (Pres.'s Proclam., July 5, 1862, under Confisc. Law). 

* N. Y. Times, Oct. 16, 1862, the appointment of tax-commissioners 
for Florida. N. Y. Herald, Feb. 13, 1863, Gen. Hunter delayed the 
forced sale of property in Fla. for non-payment of direct taxes. 

' Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, Complete Wks., v. 2, p. 470. 

* N. Y. Times, Apr. 2, 1862. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 



251 



Union sympathizers/ The day after the first interview 
with General Sherman a meeting was held in the public 
square of Jacksonville. About 100 Unionists were pres- 
ent.' Resolutions were adopted which protested against 
the abrogation of United States authority and proclaimed 
the ordinance of secession " null and void " because it had 
never been submitted to the votes of the people. 

" We protest against the exactions which have been im- 
posed upon us," ran the resolutions. 

forced contributions of money, property and labor, and en- 
listments for military service, procured by threats and misrep- 
resentations. We protest against the tyranny which demands 
of us as a measure of revolutionary policy the abandonment 
of our homes and property and the exposure of our wives 
and children to sickness, destitution, gaunt famine, and in- 
numerable and untold miseries and sorrows. We protest 
against the mad and barbarous policy which has punished us 
for remaining in our homes by sending a brutal and unre- 
strained soldiery to pillage and burn our property and threaten 
and destroy our lives,* 

The man who drew up these resolutions was Philip Fraser, 
a one-time citizen of New Jersey. The chairman of the 
meeting was C. L. Robinson, who had come into Florida 
from Vermont in 1857.* 

The foregoing political manifesto, which set forth with 
some vividness the position of the Union man, was no doubt 
issued with the tacit approval of General Sherman, al- 
though the correspondent of the New York Times, in Jack- 
sonville, stated that there was " no sort of collusion ". 

1 Cf. supra, chap. 7. 

^N. Y. Times, Apr. 2, 1862; A^. Y. Herald, Mar. 20, 1862. 

' Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 4, p. 325. 

^ N. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1864. 



252 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Sherman himself admitted that " the real object in occupy- 
ing Jacksonville was a political one "/ On the morning of 
the mass meeting in the public square the General issued a 
proclamation to the " People in Florida " calling them to 
loyal political reorganization.^ 

Four days later (March 24th), a second mass meeting of 
Unionists in Jacksonville called for an election of all state 
officers on the first Monday in the following month, April, 
1862.^ A few score men within the straitened limit of 
Federal lines were preparing on paper to reconstruct Flor- 
ida. Said one observer : 

At Jacksonville, then in Federal possession, a half-dozen 
shrewd heads got together and agreed to take the lead in a 
reactionary movement. Not being among the original Jacobs 
of secession, their standing had never been satisfactory. They 
had all along really preferred the Union. Now Union had 
won, their property was safe, their opportunity was safe to 
make a ten-strike ; and the political power of the State and the 
patronage of the Government were prizes worth seizing and 
working for,* 

During the six weeks of Federal occupation these men 
in the protecting shadow of the Northern army remained 
pronounced and at times loud advocates of the Union. 
Then, rather unexpectedly, Jacksonville was ordered aban- 
doned. There was consternation among the Union men. 
They had accepted Confederate authority to save their 
property and had recanted for the same honest reason when 
the Federal expedition arrived. Flight was the only safe 
course left to them. They could expect little forbearance 

* Letter to Phil. Fraser, N. Y. Ev. Express, July 23, 1862. 
^ Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, p. 301. 

* A''. Y. Herald, Apr. 11, 1862; Moore, Retell. Red., v. 4, p. 349. 
^A''. y. World, Mar. 11, 1864 (Townsend Library). 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 253 

under the interpretation of Confederate law by " their ex- 
asperated old associates ", whom they had repudiated. So 
some of them embarked on Federal transports with what 
personal property they could carry along. 

*' Thirty or forty families managed to escape," stated a 
press correspondent. 

None of these had more than ten hours in which to make 
preparations for leaving homes they had occupied for years. 
It was sad to see them hurrying down to the wharf, each 
carrying some article too precious to forsake. Books, boxes, 
valises, portraits, pictures, packages of clothes, pet canaries 
and mocking-birds are most frequently seen. Stout-hearted 
and stylish officers relieving Dinahs of their little charges and 
leading two-, three-, and four-year-olds added a humane and 
praiseworthy ludicrousness to the melancholy scene. ^ 

Thus the first essay in political reorganization by Florida 
Unionists ended in flight; yet the withdrawal of troops 
from Jacksonville did not end political experimentation in 
East Florida by enemies of the Confederacy. In the spring 
of 1863, there was a feeble repetition of the same farce, 
when Jacksonville was a second time occupied and aban- 
doned.^ Colonel Higginson felt the "wrongfulness" of leav- 
ing these people " to the mercy of the Confederates once 
more ". Again Union sympathizers flocked on board Union 
ships and " at once developed," says Higginson, " that in- 
sane mania for aged and valueless trumpery which always 
seizes upon the human race, I believe, in moments of 
danger." ^ 

' Moore, Retell. Red., v. 4, p. 82. These people seem to have gone to 
New York City. See report in A''. Y. Herald, Apr. 22, 1862, inscribed 
" Mayor's Oflfice," which stated that 50 loyalists had arrived from Fla. 
in N. Y. City, and that the mayor and council had voted them $1,000.00. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 14, p. 232. Rpt. Col. Rust. 

* Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment, p. 173. 



254 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Late in the year 1863 several Unionist political rallies 
took place in St. Augustine and Fernandina under the guid- 
ing influence of the Federal military/ The cause of the 
Union seemed to be reviving. Tax commissioners for Flor- 
ida had been appointed the year previous by the Federal 
treasury department,^ and a Federal district court for 
" Northern Florida " v^as about to begin its sessions in 
January, 1864, at St. Augustine. The judge in this court 
had come lately from Pennsylvania; the district attorney, 
from New York; the clerk, from Vermont; and the mar- 
shal, from Rhode Island.^ 

Major John Hay arrived at Jacksonville in February, 1864, 
with the Union army of invasion. He came as the personal 
representative of President Lincoln to inaugurate meas- 
ures for loyal political reconstruction.* Hay failed to find 
men enough to put into operation the administration's pro- 
ject. In fact, the few Union men of East Florida showed 
that they were by no means all in accord. One group sent 
to Lincoln a formal condemnation of those whom Hay had 
seen fit to call about him as advisers. 

The serious disaster at Olustee in February, 1864, forced 
the Union army to confine itself to the immediate vicinities 
of Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Fernandina.^ Politi- 
cians continued to be active, however. A Unionist " con- 

^ N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 29, 1863 ; resolutions of St. Augustine meeting. 
N. Y. Times, Jan. 2, Jan. 23, 1864. N. Y. Tribune, May 24, 1864. Col. 
Osborn (U. S. A.), at St. Augustine, was active in local politics. 

»M Y. Times, Oct. 16, 1862. 

* N. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1864. 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, Complete Wks., v. 11, p. 470; Oif. Reds. 
Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 276. 

° See account in Florida Union, Dec. 31, 1864. This sheet was pub- 
lished by nominal Union men, Morrill and Stickney, the latter a Fed- 
eral tax commissioner. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 255 

vention " was held in Jacksonville during May, 1864, with 
representations from four or five eastern counties.' This 
body chose delegates for the Republican national conven- 
tion and adopted resolutions which closed with the follow- 
ing sentiment : " On the eve of a coming election and in 
view of the vast difficulties which surround the Nation, we 
feel like a horse-trader struggling in the waters of the 
Mississippi — that it is a mighty poor time to swap horses; 
5, that Abraham Lincoln is the choice of this convention for 
next President of the United States." ^ To the end of the 
war Florida Union men kept up the pretense of being both 
in the Union and engaged in reconstructing their state. 

With their ideas of political reconstruction, Eli Thayer, 
a New-England abolitionist who had already won local 
fame in Kansas,^ attempted to associate his own peculiar 
theories of what he termed " economic reconstruction ". 
He was a vigorous champion of free labor. He promised 
recklessly that if the national government would furnish 
funds for equipping, arming, and transporting to Florida 
and supporting there, for one year, several thousand farm- 
ers, he would win back the state for the Union. His aim 
was to " crowd out slavery " in Florida by turning into that 
state a stream of free-soil immigrants. His army of farmer- 
soldiers would be the advance guard of such an invasion. 
In the accomplishment of this project he would have the 
Federal Government confiscate all property of Southern 
sympathizers, appropriate the lands of the state, and turn 

^ A''. Y. Tribune, May 26, 1864. The proclamation calling together 
this convention was approved by Gen. Gordon, the Fed. commander of 
the District of Florida. 

* N. Y. Herald, June 3, 1864 ; A''. Y. Tribune, June 6, 1864. 

' See Thayer, History of the Kansas Crusade, for a discussion of his 
colonizing work in the west. 



256 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

over lands and other property to the white and black colo- 
nists from other states. 

His plan actually received some public attention in the 
North, probably because Thayer was already well-known 
to a circle of prominent men. In December, 1862, a dele- 
gation of politicians laid the scheme before Mr. Lincoln.^ 
The matter was discussed in cabinet meeting,^ brought up 
in the national House of Representatives, referred to a 
committee, and then lost sight of.^ During January and 
February, 1863, Thayer and his friends engineered two 
public meetings in New York City for the conquest of 
Florida. It was a strange cause — this proposed crusade to 
the back counties of Florida. One meeting was held at the 
Fifth Avenue Hotel, on January 5th, and the other, at the 
Cooper Union, February 6th.* 

In the Cooper Union meeting, Wm. Cullen Bryant pre- 
sented resolutions which declared this plan to be " the most 
economic, the most speedy, the most certain method of end- 
ing the Rebellion, and of restoring National prosperity and 
repairing the damages of the war ". The conquest of Flor- 
ida was to be followed by the conquest of other states. 
Thayer claimed that thousands of men were ready to follow 
him to Florida and that in the state to be invaded 7,000 
negro slaves could be counted on as recruits. If this plan 
had been put into operation, servile war would have re- 
sulted. Among those who endorsed the project and par- 
ticipated prominently in the meetings were several Florida 
Union men in exile. Thayer's proposals furnished the New 
York dailies with subject-matter when war news proved 

' A''. Y. Herald, Dec. 18, 1862 — " a delegation with Vice-President 
Hamlin at its head." 
^ Diary of Gideon Welles, v. i, p. 206, Dec. 26, 1862. 

* A'^. Y. Times, Jan. 13, 1863. Rep. Bingham of Ohio was interested. 

* N. Y. Times, Jan. 25, Feb. 7, 1863. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 257 

dull or the winter season too silly. Florida was never in- 
vaded by armed farmer colonists/ 

To suppress positive Union sympathizers and to keep 
faint-hearted Southerners in line, drastic measures were em- 
ployed by the " irregular " or " independent " companies 
of Confederate cavalry, which scoured great sections of 
Florida." In East Florida the operations of such bodies 
became particularly active and violent. " Union people of 
late have been obliged to conceal their feelings," wrote the 
Florida correspondent of the Nezv York Times. " Their 
lives and property have been threatened by bodies of armed 
guerillas who infest this part of Florida, murdering in- 
habitants and destroying property. They call themselves 
regulators." ^ By another press correspondent, the regu- 
lators were termed " a band of scoundrels who have for 
weeks threatened the lives and property of all suspected citi- 
zens and who have succeeded in creating a reign of terror."* 

From St. Augustine came the lurid report that " the in- 
habitants are not privileged to go out because of bands of 
guerillas who are everywhere organizing. This has pro- 
duced a reign of terror in the neighborhood. Guerillas do 
not hesitate to kill those who differ from them." ' In West 
Florida, General Asboth, the Federal commander at Fort 
Barrancas, reported : "In Walton county seven citizens were 
hung last week for Union sentiments, and one woman, re- 

" For references to Thayer's Florida scheme, see A''. Y. Tribune, Oct. 
I, 1862; Feb. 7, 9, 19, 1863; N. Y. Herald, Feb. 10. 1863; iV. Y. World, 
Feb. 10, 1863 ; N. Y. Ev. Post, Jan. 30, 1863 ; A''. Y. Times, Feb. 7, 1863 ; 
Moore, Rebetl. Red., v. 6, p. 44; An. Cyclo., 1862-3. 

* Gov. Milton's correspondence in Off. Reds. Retell, and in Milton 
Papers (MSS.). 

* A''. Y. Times, Apr. 2, 1862. 

* TV. Y. Tribune, Mar. 24, 1862. 
» A^. Y. Herald, Sept. 12, 1862. 



258 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

fusing to give information, was killed by hounds." ^ A 
Florida guerilla captain stated to his chief, General Floyd : 

I am now a Guerilla in every sense of the word. We neither 
tell where we stay or where we are going or when we sliall 
return. We assemble the company at the sound of a cow's 
horn. We have made some arrests, both black and white, and 
hung one negro belonging to Mr. Mays last week. We have 
scouts out. We have three men spotted that ought to be hung. 
Three-fourths of the people on the St. Johns River are aiding 
and abetting the enemy. ^ 

On the return of a Federal naval raid up the St. Johns river, 
in the autumn of 1862, a Federal officer reported: "Mr. 
Blood (a Union man) informed me that his life was threat- 
ened and he was in fear momentarily of being seized and 
made to ornament a pine three for his well-known Union 
views." ^ Allowing for evident exaggeration in the evi- 
dence, we may conclude that suspected Unionists were 
watched and often severely harried by guerilla bands, 
which were usually not irresponsible bodies, but nominally 
under the control of the Confederate authorities, and in 
some cases recognized by the laws of Florida.* 

These irregular bodies of Southern soldiery sought not 
only the passive Union sympathizers whose offense was gen- 
erally giving information and comfort to the enemy,^ but 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, p. 63 — Asboth to Stone, Apr. 22, 
1864. 

''Ibid., V. 53, p. 233 — letter of J. W. Pearson, "Oakland Rangers," 
to Gen. Floyd. 

' Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 13, p. 368. 

* For instance, see Laws of Fla., nth Sess., "Joint resolution" pro- 
viding for organization of the Amelia Guerillas Co., Dec. 31 ; Moore, 
Retell. Red., v. 8, p. 422, Act. Confed. Cong, authorizing Partizan 
Rangers. The leaders of the bands reported to Confed. officers. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 53, p. 235. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 259 

they sought as well the deserters from Confederate ranks 
and " conscripts ". After the passage of the Confederate 
Conscript Act in April, 1862/ opposition encountered by- 
Confederate enrolling officers increased.^ Many who had 
not yet volunteered preferred to "lay out" — that is, secrete 
themselves in the woods near their homes in order to escape 
conscription. The controlling motive with these men was 
hardly love for the Union. They seem to have been actu- 
ated by a strong desire to avoid service in the army. They 
wished to be at home more ardently than they wished to 
support their country or win the commendation of neigh- 
bors. They lacked patriotism. They were usually poor and 
illiterate. 

By the beginning of the third year of war (1864) the 
deserters, " conscripts " and " Union men " in certain sec- 
tions of Florida — notably Taylor and Lafayette counties — 
regularly organized themselves into armed bands. ^ One 
such band drew up a constitution and signed it. They 
called themselves " The Independent Union Rangers ". 
Among the provisions of the constitution were : " True 
allegiance to the United States " ; absolute obedience to the 
officers of tl'e company; absolute secrecy concerning opera- 
tions; death by shooting for anyone found guilty of being a 
spy ; equal distribution by officers of all plunder taken ; and 
(strangest of all among deserters) the death penalty for 
any member who deserted the band.* 

Deserter bands became aggressively hostile. They held 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iii, v. 5, pp. 693-4, passed Apr. 16. 

2 Ibid., s. i, V. 52, pt. 2, p. 372. 

' These two counties and the country south of the Withlacoochee 
river were the sections most frequented as places of retreat by de- 
serters. See accounts in N. Y. Herald, Apr. 30, 1864; N. Y. Tribune, 
Sept. 6, 1864. 

* Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 53, p. 319. The document, signed by 33 
members, was captured by Col. Capers. 



26o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

some of the swamps, kept in communication with Federal 
forces, received food and ammunition from Federal camps 
and blockading vessels, occasionally raided isolated plan- 
tations, drove off and slaughtered cattle and hogs, enticed 
negro slaves away from their plantations, put arms in the 
hands of these runaway blacks — in a word seriously inter- 
fered with the peace and safety of many communities/ At 
the close of the year 1863 Governor Milton represented 
West Florida as being in a "bad condition" for "our cause". 
" The disloyal," he said, " were in touch with the enemy." 
" The Sheriff of Washington County and others are now 
in the service of the enemy," ^ and he stated further that 
a " large proportion, if not a majority, of the citizens of 
West Florida are represented to be disloyal ; at all events 
advocate reconstruction and have threatened to raise the 

^ Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, pp. 5, 215, 368; v. 28, pt. 2, pp. 
273; V. 53, pp. 309, 319-20, S37- Gen. Anderson (C. S. A.) reported: 
"In March last (1864) I assumed command of the Dist. of Fla. At 
that time there was considerable alarm felt by many citizens of Middle 
Fla. on account of recent depredations of bands of Deserters, disloyal 
persons, and bandits gathered in semi-organization along the coast in 
Taylor and Lafayette Counties. South Fla. was infested by the same 
kind of bands. . . . Several planters of Jefferson and Madison Coun- 
ties have lost a number of slaves," etc. 

The Confederate sympathizers of Levy Co. assembled in meeting and 
drew up a formal request for protection. To their chairman, Rev. J. 
M. Nichols, Gen. Anderson wrote : " Hope at an early date to accede 
to your request for protection ... to clear your locality of Yankees, 
deserters and outlaws," etc. 

The Gov. of Ala., in a letter to Gen. Cobb at Quincy, Fla., referred 
to "a band of deserters in the lower part of Henry Co. (Ala.) and on 
the Chipola river, Fla. They threaten the loyal population. I have 
ordered Capt. Armstrong with a command to make arrests. Six or 
seven men liable to Confed. service [were captured?], but recaptured 
by friends from ambush," etc. Col. Hatch (U. S. A.) referred in Aug., 
1864, to " 500 LTnion men, deserters, and negroes . . . now raiding 
toward Gainsville," etc. 

* Milton to Beauregard, Jan. 29, Feb. 4, 1864, Milton Papers. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 261 

United States flag, even in Marianna." ' The counties of 
West Florida " bordering the coast " were in the hands of 
deserters. " A short time ago," stated the governor to Sec- 
retary Mallory in May, 1864, '' 10,000 blankets and 6,000 
pairs of shoes intended to supply troops in this State were 
captured." ^ The deserters and conscripts of West and 
Middle Florida even planned the capture of the governor 
himself. He was warned of the plot in time by telegraph.' 

Aroused to the danger of this insidious form of invasion 
(for Union bushwhackers acted in concert with the Union 
soldiers on the borders of the state) the Confederacy began 
a systematic and often merciless campaign against de- 
serters and conscripts — particularly against the bands in 
Taylor and Lafayette Counties. Bloodhounds were some- 
times used to track them in the dense swamps and hum- 
mocks, where they took refuge. It was cruel business, but, 
as Colonel Capers of the Confederate army observed when 
he took charge in Middle Florida, " the only practical way 
of hunting deserters will be with dogs under experienced 
woodsmen." * 

The places of retreat were difficult of access and the dis- 
loyal bands shifted their camps from point to point. The 
camps were often destroyed by the pursuing military and a 
few men made prisoners, but the bands were never com- 
pletely dispersed during the war. The military in some 
cases destroyed their homes and sent the women and chil- 
dren either into Federal lines or to refugee camps within 
Confederate lines. ° This was more barbarous than occa- 

* Milton to Beauregard, Oct. 15, 1863, Milton Papers. 

* Milton to Mallory, May 23, 1864, ibid. 

' Telegrams between Luke Lott and Milton, Feb. 3-4, 1864, ibid. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 53, p. 319. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 53, pp. 252, 319, etc. Reports of Col. H. 
D. Capers (C. S. A.). 



262 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

sionally hunting the men with hounds and did not yield ad- 
vantage to the Confederate cause. The care of destitute 
families of Confederate soldiers was already a tax on the 
slender resources of the state. ^ The destruction of prop- 
erty owned by Union men and the seizing of their cattle 
and crops for the Confederate commissary increased desti- 
tution. The refugee or conscription camps became an ad- 
ditional burden to the tottering state.^ 

The leader of one of the most notorious deserter and 
" conscript " bands sent the following characteristic epistle 
— in the writing of which he had evidently labored for a 
long time — to Colonel Capers, commanding the Confederate 
force in pursuit. 

Got your letter left for me. Anxious to hear from you and 
you from me, but cannot control my men any longer, since 
they saw you fire our house. Cannot control them any longer. 
I ain't accountable for what they do now. As for myself, I 
will do anything that any half-white man ever done, only to 
go into the Confederate War any more ; though when I was 
in it T done my duty, I reckon. Ask Col. Smith if I was not 
a good soldier as long as he was captain, but now I have went 
on the other side and tried what we call the United States of 
Taylor, but I find it like Confederate men, more wind than 
work. As for me, I ain't a-going in for any order, only to 
stay with Mr. Johnston and help him tend his stock, and I 
will help him pen and drive cattle, but my oath will not per- 
mit me to fight any more. If you will send and get me an 
exemption and my men who have taken the oath to stay in 

* Fla. Senate Journal, 1864, p. 31. During 1862-3 the state govern- 
ment was contributing to the support of more than 11,000 destitute 
persons in soldier's families and during the following year more than 
13,000. 

* An. Cyclo., 1863, " Florida," quoting Gov. Milton ; Governor's Mes- 
sage, Nov. 17, 1862— Milton Papers; Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 53, p. 
251. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 



263 



Taylor County, and raise stock for you, they will do so, but 
they will not go into the war if you had as many men as 
dogs, for our title is Florida Royals, and if we cannot get a 
furlough from Mr. Jeff Davis during the war you will find our 
title right for awhile, so I remain a flea until I get a furlough 
from headquarters, and when you put your thumb on me, and 
then raise it up, I will be gone. I give you my respects for 
the good attention you paid my wife, for it was not her notion 
for me to do as I have been doing. Just set me and my men 
free from the war, and we will try, with leave, to get corn till 
ours can make. So here is my love for the good attention for 
my wife and child. If the war lasts long enough, and you 
will raise him to be a good soldier, he will show the spunk 
of his daddy. W. W. Strickland, 

Fla. Royals.^ 

In dealing with these people of Florida, the Confederate 
w^ar department was temporizing. Opportunity was given 
such refugees to retract and come back to the support of the 
Confederacy. General Beauregard issued a proclamation 
on March 4th, 1864, promising amnesty and employment in 
a non-military capacity to all conscripts and deserters who 
would come into his lines within forty days.^ General Gor- 
don (C. S. A.), commanding in West Florida, issued a very 
similar proclamation on March i8th, promising amnesty to 
the disloyal if they would report to conscript camps before 
April 5th. " Severe punishment to all deserters deaf to 
this clemency," he concluded. " All such persons found 
with arms in their hands will be shot without mercy. The 
families of deserters and the disloyal will be sent into the 
interior and their property destroyed, and all cattle, horses, 
and hogs will be driven away or shot." ^ By February ist, 

• Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 53, p. 319. 

' N. Y. Herald, Apr. 30, 1864. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 53, p. 320. 



264 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

1865, 220 deserters in Florida had returned to the Southern 
army and 2,142 conscripts were enrolled/ 

Governor Milton counseled greater moderation toward de- 
serters than was shown. He repeatedly expressed the opin- 
ion that many left the ranks for the purpose of helping their 
starving families. He thought that most offenders had little 
conception of the gravity of their offense in military law.^ 
He condemned the destruction of deserters' property when 
such destruction left their families without means of sub- 
sistence. " I cannot approve of this war on women and chil- 
dren," he stated with feeling to General Anderson.^ In a 
private letter he declared that '* the opposition to the Con- 
script Act and the attempts to enforce it produced much 
dissatisfaction, and some men of influence who approved 
secession now prefer the United States Government in spite 
of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation." * This was in 
the autumn of 1862. 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iv, v. 3, pp. iioi, 1109. These figures are for 
all returns from the passage of the Conscript Act in the spring of 
1862 to Feb., 1865. The proclamation of amnesty issued by Beaure- 
gard and Gordon had little effect. Gen. Anderson stated : " Some [de- 
serters] availed themselves of the terms of the proclamation [Beau- 
regard's], but no large number"; also s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 368. 

* Message, Nov. 1862 — Milton Papers. Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 52, 
pt. 2, p. 337 ; V. 53, pp. 251, 252, 343. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 53, p. 251. " The destruction of property 
in Taylor and Lafayette counties has caused women and children to 
depend on the Govt, who once were able to support themselves." On 
June 20, 1864, he wrote: "The destruction of dwellings and property, 
and the arrest and continued custody of citizens of the State, women 
and children, by order of Gen. Gordon, has resulted as I thought. It 
has increased the number of deserters and excited among them a vin- 
dictive purpose to avenge wrongs and to liberate women, children and 
aged men who have been deprived of property on suspicion of dis- 
loyalty. Houses destroyed should be rebuilt and women supplied with 
cards and looms and rations for a few months." 

* Ibid., s. i, V. 52, pt. 2, p. 372. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 265 

The impressment of food by the Confederate commissary 
agents and the absence of so many of the able-bodied men 
from home left many families destitute, and undoubtedly 
caused many a man to leave the army in order that he might 
aid his family.^ The Federal military and naval authorities 
were in touch with this fugitive class and eager to win its 
favor. Food, arms, money and safety were offered.^ Dur- 
ing the winter of 1864 and 1865, hundreds of one-time 
Confederate soldiers and other refugees came into the 
Union lines.' 

This exodus to the enemy was an obvious indication of 
final break-down in the internal strength of the Confed- 
eracy. The bare necessities of life were running low. Corn 

^ Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. iv, v. 3, p. 45. 

'Ibid., s. i, V. 14, p. 724; V. 35, pt. I, pp. 368, 371 ; pt. 2, p. 94; V. 53, 
p. 319. Col. Capers found in a captured deserters' camp 2,000 rounds 
of ammunition for U. S. Army Springfield muskets and several barrels 
of flour from " U. S. Subsist. Dept." Gen. Anderson declared : " In 
each of these sections the enemy is known to be inciting bands to blood- 
shed and plunder, supplying arms, clothing, food, etc." 

^ N. Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1864: " Nearly enough refugees in St. Augus- 
tine and Fernandina to make a regiment." 

A''. Y. Herald, Mar. 30, 1864: "The laborers in the different depart- 
ments here (Jacksonville) are crackers still attired in the dirty gray 
uniforms furnished them by the Confederate Govt.," May 20. "At 
Depot Keys some 300 men, women and children. ... At St. Mark's 
there are several hundred; ... at West Pass nearly 200; at Charlotte 
Harbor, 160 ; at Tampa, and on St. Andrew's Sound, like numbers," etc. 

N. Y. Times, Mar. 18, 1865 : " Two companies of the Second Florida 
Cavalry recruited from refugees and deserters," etc. 

Off. Reds. Rebeli, s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, p. 63 : — 

(Asboth), "At East Pass, 609 destitute women and children," etc., 
s. i, v. 2, pt. I, p. 817. (Asboth), Nov. 13, 1863, "If I had boats, I 
think I could raise one white and one black regiment in West Florida." 
" 500 Union men, deserters and negroes near Cedar Keys," etc., p. 12 
(Asboth). "Nearly 200 deserters near St. Mark's, in open war with 
the Confederacy," etc. (Asboth). V. 35, pt. 2, p. 215 (Hatch), Aug., 
1864. 



266 . RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

was scarce, meat and salt were precious commodities. Fields 
were grown up with weeds. Seaports were closed. Railroad 
companies had ceased operating trains over exposed divi- 
sions. Boats of commerce plied the rivers at their peril. Cows 
and calves, mules and horses had been driven off to support 
the struggling armies. Grim desolation gripped the land. 
The intermittent post brought news of dead, dead, dead, 
until the very world seemed dying beneath the eyes of Flor- 
ida's simple population. The stress of war was indeed 
awful. The armies of the powerful Union were piercing 
the very vitals of the proud Southern republic. People 
were faced by starvation. They were surrounded by 
misery, as in a nightmare, yet thousands were willing to 
fight on with the gates of hope practically closed. The 
women at home, sad-eyed and poverty stricken, deftly put 
patches on their own garments, prayed to God, sewed to- 
gether precious remnants of cloth for the men in ranks, 
and usually saw to it that any bacon went to the firing line, 
and not on home tables. 

In recapitulating the record of Union sentiment and de- 
sertion in Florida, we observe that Union sympathizers and 
deserters never exceeded one-fifth of the adult white popu- 
lation, even during the demoralization of the last year of 
conflict. Most of these people were illiterate Southern 
whites or persons born and reared in the North. We ob- 
serve that Union sentiment manifested itself in East Flor- 
ida by political meetings, political manifestos, and abortive 
attempts to reconstruct the state government. We observe 
the Federal military and finally the national administration 
taking part in such attempts at reconstruction. We observe 
Union sympathizers and deserters raiding and plundering 
in West Florida and Central Florida. We observe Confed- 
erate troops attempting to stamp out disaffection by warn- 
ings, whippings, and even hangings and house-burnings. 



INTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERACY 267 

We observe the existence of guerilla warfare in Florida, 
which helped the cause of the Union indirectly by more 
quickly exhausting the strength of the state, and directly by 
furnishing guides, scouts, and information to invading 
armies. Finally, we observe that the " Union men " created 
for the Florida government at least two obvious problems : 
first, the protection of Confederate sympathizers; second, 
the supporting in refugee camps of thousands of destitute 
women and children of the despoiled and despised deserters 
and conscripts. 



CHAPTER XI 
The Olustee Campaign — 1864 

The food supply of the Confederate armies was becom- 
ing rapidly exhausted by the autumn of 1863. The fact 
was probably not unconsidered by Federal military authori- 
ties. One year earlier (October, 1862), Commander Wood- 
hull, of the Federal navy, after a raid up the St. Johns, de- 
clared that 

the cattle of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South 
Carolina have all been consumed. Texas and the rich grazing 
country to the westward of the Mississippi being cut off, the 
whole dependence of the Confederate Government to feed their 
Army now rests on this State [Florida]. I have it from reli- 
able sources that its agents are all over the state buying up all 
the cattle obtainable, paying any price so they can get the 
animals. The only dependence the people of Georgia and 
Florida have for their sugar is that raised along the banks of 
this river [St. Johns]. The greatest blow at this war would 
be the entire destruction of the sugar crop and the small salt- 
works along the shore on the coast of this State.^ 

Such rumors were evident exaggerations in 1862, but they 
contained the substance of an important truth — namely, 
that the South's food supply was failing and that Florida's 
comparative isolation made it an important cattle range. 

A circular of rather alarming import, which supports the 
foregoing generalization, was sent out from Quincy, Flor- 

^ Naval War Records, s. i, v. 13, p. 369. 
268 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 269 

ida, on November 2nd, 1863, by the chief Confederate com- 
missary officer for the state, Major P. W. White.' It was a 
passionate appeal to the citizens of the Southern republic in 
Florida. Major White declared that the " issues " of the 
war had more than ever been transferred to the " people at 
home ". If they should decrease their support of the Con- 
federate armies those armies must fall back from the fron- 
tier. If the Federal army should break through the fam- 
ished Confederate lines the " wave of desolation " would 
roll from the Gulf to the Atlantic — the cause would be lost. 
If the Southern people, he said, valued their cattle and hogs, 
their corn and their money more than their cause, their army 
must fail. To give bountifully was a fearful test of pa- 
triotism, for the " people at home " were poor — but the 
Confederate army needed food, and needed it badly by the 
autumn of '63. 

The chief commissary officer for General Bragg's army 
had written that his troops were dependent on Florida for 
beef, because all other available sources were exhausted.'^ 
The chief Confederate commissary officer for Georgia had 
written that the Southern forces in Georgia looked to Flor- 
ida because Georgia's beef supply was practically exhausted.' 
The chief Confederate commissary officer for South Caro- 
lina had written : " We are almost entirely dependent on 
Florida. . . . We now have 40,(X>o troops and laborers to 
subsist. The supply of bacon on hand in this city [Charles- 
ton] is 20,000 pounds and the cattle furnished by this state 
is not one-tenth of what is required ".* Major Miller (C. 

* Report Gen. Beauregard, Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, pp. 
393-396. 

'Letters of October 5, 6, and 19, 1863. 

* Mr. Locke. 

* Maj. Guerin, October 9, 1863. 



270 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

S. A.), of Savannah, had written: "The stock of bacon and 
beef for the armies of the Confederate States is now ex- 
hausted. . . . Starvation stares the army in the face; the 
handwriting is on the wall. . . . From the best informa- 
tion I have the resources in food (meat) in both Tennessee 
and Virginia armies are exhausted. This remark now ap- 
plies with equal force to South Carolina and Georgia." ^ 

Major White included these letters in his circular ad- 
dressed to Floridians. He pointed out that two large 
armies looked almost entirely to Florida for their supply 
of beef and bacon. ^ He called upon the people to husband 
their stores in order to help the Confederacy meet success- 
fully the threatened famine. Florida was evidently eco- 
nomically more important to the Confederacy in 1863 than 
in 1861. General John K. Jackson, of the Southern army in 
Florida, estimated in 1864 that 25,000 head of cattle and 
10,000 head of hogs went annually from the state to the 
armies beyond its borders.^ 

1 Letter of October 10, 1863. 

' The state comptroller in October, 1862, reported to the governor 
that the number of cattle in Florida was as follows : in East Florida, 
383,717; in Central Florida, 174,378; in West Florida, 100,514; total, 
658,609. These figures seem to be taken from returns during 1860-61, 
and are probably much under the number of cattle in 1863. Droves 
were driven from Georgia into Florida. See Milton Papers, October 
10, 1862 — memoranda of comptroller. 

'"The most valuable portion of Florida," wro^e Gen. Jackson to 
Gen. Cooper, " is the middle counties of the Peninsula — Alachua, Mar- 
ion, and other counties in that vicinity. Its productive capacity is 
very great and the character of its supplies of ines imable value to 
the Confederacy. The sugar and syrup there produced cannot, I be- 
lieve, be supplied by any other portion of the Confederacy. From offi- 
cial and other data I learn that the product of army supplies will 
amount annually lo 25,000 head of beeves, equal to 10,000,000 pounds; 
1,000 hogsheads of sugar; 100,000 gallons of syrup, equal by exchange 
to 4,000,000 pounds of bacon; 10,000 hogs, equal to 1,000,000 pounds of 
bacon; 50,000 sides of leather; 100,000 barrels of fish (if labor af- 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 



271 



To have put Major White's circular in the public press 
would have been showing a weakness to the enemy. Ac- 
cordingly it was mailed to supposedly discreet persons who 
were asked to read it privately and not let it pass out of 
their possession except to those " true and prudent " per- 
sons who could be trusted. It was soon widely distributed 
over the state and at some places during the late autumn of 
1863 stuck up on trees at cross roads where both the pru- 
dent and the foolish pass.^ 

Its startling disclosures probably reached the Federal 
government before the end of 1863. General Beauregard 
stated : " The paper needs no comment. ... I am assured 
it was one of the main causes of the expedition to Jack- 
sonville and thence toward Lake City." ^ At Olustee oc- 
curred the battle which checked this invasion — the most 
serious which Florida has ever experienced. " Among 
many most extraordinary things brought to light by this 
invasion," reported the Florida correspondent of the New 
York Herald, " is a document emanating from the Com- 
missariat Department of Ouincy, Florida, in which there is 
startling evidence to be found of the desperate condition of 

forded), equal to 20,000,000 pounds of fish. Oranges, lemons, arrow- 
root, salt, blockade goods, iron, etc. Counting the bacon at one-third 
pound and beef and fish at one pound to the ration there are of meat 
rations 45,000,000 — enough to supply 250,000 for six months." Off. 
Reds. Rebeil., s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, p. 606. For references to food supply- 
in Florida see also Off. Reds. Rebeil. , s. i, v. i, p. 467; s. i, v. 14, pp. 
473, 703; s. i, V. 26, pt. I, p. 873; s. i, v. 28, pt. 2, p. 450; s. i, v. 35, pp. 
258, 308, 349. 366; s. i, V. 35, pt. I, pp. 279, 388, 395. Also Townsend 
Library (Columbia University), v. 41, p. 387. 

' Off. Reds. Rebeil., s. i, v. 35, pt. 2, p. 294. Beauregard to Cooper : 
" I was informed by sundry persons that it had been widely dis- 
tributed," etc. N. Y. Herald, February 21, 1864. A copy was obtained 
at Baldwin by Federal troops early in February. Early in January 
it was evidently at Lake City. 

^ Ibid., s. i, V. 35, pt. 2, p. 295. 



272 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

the enemy. Beef and bacon are entirely exhausted through- 
out the South and from all quarters cries are arising for 
relief from Florida." ^ 

The explanation of the invasion of '64 is, however, not 
so simple as this. Before the circular was sent forth the 
probabilities of the movement into Florida were discussed 
at the North. The Northern press hostile to the Lincoln 
administration interpreted the invasion as a part of the 
President's plan to apply in Florida his own ideas concern- 
ing reconstruction. One year before, Federal politics had 
played a minor part in the attack on East Florida. Since 
1862 the Union had retained a foothold on the east coast 
at Fernandina and St. Augustine. Federal direct tax com- 
missioners had been appointed in October, 1862," and at 
least one of them, Stickney, became a constant intriguer for 
more Federal troops in that state where his jurisdiction lay. 
" Union men " presented now and then to the newspapers 
the necessity and justice back of Florida loyalists' demand 
for greater Federal protection and demonstrated the ad- 
vantages (illusory) to the Union which would follow if 
such protection were given. ^ 

On September 7th, 1863. Tax Commissioner Stickney ar- 
rived in Washington. Forthwith it was reported in the 
newspapers that he came to petition Mr. Lincoln in the name 

^ A''. Y. Herald, February 20, 1864. 

^ L. D. Stickney, Jno. S. Sammis, and Harrison Reed. Gen. Mitchell 
commanding the Department of the South was directed to afford them 
all assislance and protection that may be required "for the performance 
of their duty." N. Y. Times, October 16, 1862; also March 6, 1864. 
Reed and Sammis were replaced in 1864 by two " Union men " of 
Florida — Judga Wm. Alsop and Buckingham Smith — see Jacksonville 
Union, December 31, 1864. 

' A^. Y . World, February 17, 1864 (letter from Fernandina) ; March 
II, 1864. N. Y. Times, October 16, 1862; January 25, 1863. N. Y. 
Tribune, November 6, 1862. A'^. Y. Herald, September 8, 1863. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 273 

of Florida's loyal citizens to send a large military force into 
the state for the purpose of relieving the people there from 
" Confederate rule ", for the re-establishment of a " loyal " 
judiciary and a " loyal " legislature, and for the sending 
of " loyal " representations to the national Congress.^ 

Mr. Stickney's reputation was not of the best nor his in- 
fluence in political circles very high. He was undoubtedly 
a person who mixed politics and private business indis- 
criminately and for his pecuniary advantage.^ Yet he was 
the appointee and friend of Secretary Chase of the treasury 
department. He might or might not have influenced Lin- 
coln to attempt the political reorganization of Florida. 
Such reorganization seemed successful or partly successful 
at that time in other Southern states.^ 

Lincoln was beginning to consider the next year's na- 
tional election. He naturally wished to succeed himself, and 
his adverse critics said then that his Southern political pro- 
gram was meant primarily to obtain votes for himself in 
the nominating convention and the election following.* 
This is a rather gross interpretation of the President's 
motives, for, as the Tribune put it, " it is quite possible 
that the Administration may desire the return of a loyal 
state to the Union without reference to the next Presidential 
election." * At any rate, soon after the Stickney newspaper 

> A^. Y. Herald, September 8, 1863. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 38th Cong., 2nd Ses., No. 18. 

' Hosmer, Outcome of the Civil War, pp. 134-36. Military governors 
had been appointed by the President during 1862 in the states of North 
Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas. The loyal in Louisiana 
had gone so far as to elect representatives to U. S. Congress and 
they were admitted to seats. See also McCarthy's Lincoln's Plan of 
Reconstruction ; Dunning's Essays on the Civil War, etc., and Welles' 
Diary, v. i. 

* N. Y. World, February 13, 1864. 

* A'^. Y. Tribune, February 23, 1864. 



274 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

notices Lincoln showed renewed interest in Florida/ Loyal 
reconstruction there and military invasion were connected 
in discussion at the North as perfectly germane subjects 
before the end of October (1863). Judge Philip Fraser, a 
reputable Republican Federal office-holder, exiled from 
Florida, stated on October 8th that, " if forces are to be sent 
to Florida to be used as tools for political wire-pullers and 
speculators it were better not to send them at all. We want 
bold and earnest men to go down inspired by true purpose 
— the restoration of Florida to the Union as a free state. 
Political manoeuvers may come after but not before." ^ 

Stickney was known personally and well to General Gill- 
more, who commanded the military district nominally in- 
cluding Florida. Evidently he had urged invasion upon this 
officer.^ On December 8th, Lincoln issued his Amnesty 
Proclamation announcing his plan of reconstruction in the 
South.* A week later. General Gillmore suggested to General 
Halleck — then general-in-chief of the Union armies — that 
a Federal force might be profitably sent into Florida to re- 
cover the most valuable portion of the state, to cut off the 
enemy's food supplies and to increase the number of negro 
troops.^ Nothing was said of political objects. On De- 
cember 22nd, Gillmore was formally authorized by Halleck 
to undertake such operations in the Southern peninsula as 
he might think best.® 

*See an interesting paper in the Battle of Olustee by Gen. Sam. 
Jones, C. S. A., which treats of political and economic as well as mili- 
tary side of this invasion. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, v. 4, 
pp. 76-79. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 2nd Session, No. 18, p. 155. 
' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 282. 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln's Complete IVks., v. 2, p. 442. 

* Report Secretary Stanton to Senate, Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, 
pt. I, p. 292. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 276. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 275 

On the same day a number of exiled " Union men " sailed 
from Port Royal, S. C, on the ship Maple Leaf for St. 
Augustine.^ Among them was Stickney, who was popularly 
reported to have talked with the President in September. 

Soon after the Florida Union men from South Carolina 
had reached St. Augustine, they reported to the Northern 
press that " a large and enthusiastic " Union meeting had 
taken place on the 19th, and that this gathering had passed 
resolutions calling for the reorganization of the state gov- 
ernment on a basis of loyalty to the United States constitu- 
tion, for the resumption at once of Federal relations, for 
the abolition of slavery in Florida, for the withdrawal from 
the " rebels " of the elective franchise, for the election of 
a " loyal " legislature, and for the proper amending of the 
state constitution. The secession ordinance was declared 
by the meeting to be " null and void ".^ The officers of the 
24th Mass. Infantry at St. Augustine were active in prepar- 
ing the negroes about them for loyal reconstruction.^ Be- 
fore the end of December a petition had gone from St. 
Augustine to the President, signed by " many Union men " 
and praying for immediate " armed occupation " of the en- 
tire state. 

On January 13th, 1864, Mr. Lincoln informed General 
Gillmore that he understood " an effort is being made by 
some worthy gentlemen to reconstruct a loyal state govern- 
ment in Florida ", and that he had sent Major John Hay 
with " blank books and other blanks to aid in the recon- 
struction ". " I wish the thing to be done in the most 
speedy way possible," he added.* 

^N. Y. Tribune, December 29, 1863. 

' N. /. Tribune, December 29, 1863; January 23, 1864; N. Y. Times, 
January 2, 1864. 

^ Ibid., December 29, 1863; January 23, 1864; N. Y. Times, January 
23, 1864. 

* Nicolay and Hay, op. cit., v. 2, p. 470. 



276 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The following day Gillmore informed General Halleck 
of his final decision to occupy the west shore of the St. 
Johns river, Florida/ This elicited the response from Hal- 
leck that Secretary of War Stanton directed that all plans 
be left to the discretion of Gillmore, because he, Stanton, 
had not been informed of the objects of the expedition to 
be sent into Florida.^ Neither had the Secretary of the 
Navy been informed.' This is most strange. Stanton and 
Welles, heads of the two departments most seriously in- 
volved, were evidently not closely consulted by the Presi- 
dent who was directing the movement into Florida. Gill- 
more in reply to Halleck stated that the objects of the ex- 
pedition were to procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, tim- 
ber, and naval stores; to cut off an important source of the 
Confederate army's food supply; to obtain recruits for 
negro regiments ; and to inaugurate measures for the restor- 
ation of Florida to the Union according to instructions 
from Mr. Lincoln in the hands of Major Hay.* In Decem- 
ber, Gillmore had not included things political among 
the objects of the proposed invasion. By January 14th, he 
had enlarged its scope. 

Early in February, Gillmore ordered General Sey- 
mour to prepare to proceed with troops from Hilton Head, 
S. C., on board transports to Jacksonville. The force 
under Seymour's command numbered between five and six 
thousand — made up of six regiments of infantry, one regi- 
ment and one battalion of cavalry, and three batteries. Sey- 
mour and command sailed the next day for Jacksonville, 
where they expected to land on Sunday, February 7th. ° 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 276. 

* Ibid., p. 276. 

'Diary of Gideon Welles, v. i, p. 231. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 276. 

* Ibid., pp. 276, 280. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 277 

The Federal forces at Fernandina received orders to watch 
the railway from Georgia into Florida and prevent or delay 
the shifting of Confederate forces into the state by tearing 
up a portion of the track. 

On the morning of February 7th, the leading Federal 
transport ran alongside the Jacksonville docks amid the 
cracking of a few carbines from the retiring Confederate 
troops.^ By nightfall the place was once more an armed 
Federal camp. The town was pathetically dilapidated — a 
mere skeleton of its former self — a victim of war, lying 
there beneath the cold light of a winter moon. Scarcely a 
score of families remained. Straggling winter weeds grew 
in the streets and vacant lots, and where the tramping mili- 
tary had left them erect these despised shrubs which bedeck 
forsaken places glowed like jewels when their delicate beads 
of dew were touched by the brilliance of the moon. The 
remains of burned houses — the poor dry-bones of departed 
prosperity — gave a grotesque, God-forsaken, and dreary 
aspect to the town. The newly-spread tents of the troops 
protected the skeleton as a whitened sepulchre. On one 
side was the St. Johns and on the other the pine woods 
stretched away in vast vistas of moonlight. 

News of Seymour's arrival traveled rapidly. On Febru- 
ary 8th, General Finegan, commanding Confederate forces 
in East Florida, notified General Beauregard at Charleston, 
S. C. The answer which flashed back directed him to hold 
the Federal troops at bay with the forces then on hand. 
Troops from Charleston, from Savannah, and from Central 
Florida would be mobilized in East Florida as rapidly as 
possible.^ 

In the meantime Federal raiders from Jacksonville began 

^N. Y. Herald, February 20, 1864; A'^. Y. Times, February 20, 1864. 
' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 322. 



278 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

to go abroad over the land. Colonel Henry, at the head of a 
detachment of the 40th Mass. Mounted Infantry, left Jack- 
sonville on the evening of the 8th, going west.^ His route 
led through pine woods and heavy swamps. The command 
groped its way over now darkened now moon-flecked trails 
under the guidance of " Union men " who knew the coun- 
try.' Near midnight Henry's raiders approached the en- 
campment of the Milton Light Artillery. A sergeant on 
mounted picket duty heard the tramping of their horses. 
He rode through the camp shouting at the top of his voice, 
" Save yourself, the enemy is upon you! " " My command 
fled," said Capt. Dunham. His loss was eighteen men, four 
cannon, six wagons, and forty-five horses and mules. ^ Just 
at daybreak Henry rode into Baldwin, twenty miles west of 
Jacksonville. 

The place had not profited by the war. Its railway sta- 
tion, warehouse, and score of seedy wooden buildings 
passed into Federal possession without a shot. Strategi- 
cally the hamlet was important, being the railway junction 
from which radiated lines to Jacksonville, to Georgia, to 
Fernandina on the Atlantic, to Cedar Keys on the Gulf, and 
to Central Florida. Supplies belonging to the Confederacy 
were stored in and about the warehouse — cannon, camp 
equipage, accoutrements, forage, cotton, cotton thread, cot- 
ton sheeting, rice, molasses, blankets, hides, salt, flour, 
sugar, turpentine, etc. These with forty horses and mules 
were acquired or destroyed by Henry. 

* Oif. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 295. 

' N. Y. Times, March 6, 1864. Mr. Alsop, a man of Northern origin 
but for twenty years a resident of Florida, acted as guide to the 
Union army from Jacksonville as far as Baldwin. He also guided 
an expedition up the Nassau river after lumber. He was an " old 
and experienced lumberman " active in politics. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell.. s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 347. Report of Capt. Dunham 
(C. S. A.), of Milton Light Artillery. See also accounts in N. Y. 
Herald and A^. Y. Times, February 20, 1864. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 279 

The people remaining in Baldwin told the invaders that 
the Confederate troops had retired westward. Wretched 
desolation was written over the face of the country.^ " Yes, 
sir, Baldwin is a dreadful poor city with right smart poor 
people in it," said one citizen to a man in the Federal ranks, 
and the trooper had no reason to doubt the piteous truth 
of the remark. 

At the south fork of the St. Marys a small body of Con- 
federate cavalry contested the crossing with Henry's com- 
mand; but the raiders pushed over with a loss of three 
killed and four wounded, and just at twilight reached the 
hamlet of Sanderson. The flames of burning supplies — 
corn and turpentine — fired by the retiring Confederate cav- 
alry lit up the group of houses near the railway station. 
At the " hotel " a dozen women were gathered. " They 
were inclined to welcome us because they thought we would 
be able to prevent the spread of the destructive element," 
recorded one raider. " They were nervous and fidgety but 
managed to give us a tolerably polite reception and to as- 
sure us of their sympathy with the rebel cause. . . . Their 
features are sharpened and pinched as if the gaunt wolf 
famine had already been on the threshold of their dwell- 
ings." ^ 

Before dawn the Federal force was again moving west. 
Near mid- day Confederate outposts were encountered a 
few miles east of Lake City. The Confederate cavalry as- 

* Excellent accounts are written of this and other raids by Oscar 
bawyer for the N. Y. Herald. Sawyer was in the field with the troops. 
His facts are in substantial accord with official reports. Among the 
supplies taken at Baldwin by Henry were two 12-pound field rifles, two 
smooth bores, three 3-inch English rifles with caissons, one tanning 
machine, 93 bales of cotton, 15 tierces of rice, 83 barrels of turpentine, 
four days' forage for 1,000 men, two railway cars of corn, two empty 
cars, etc. N. Y. Herald, February 20, 1864. 

* A''. Y. Herald, February 20, 1864. 



28o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

sumed the aggressive and Henry was quickly forced to 
begin his retreat toward Jacksonville. His raid had been 
rapid and effective. Moving by night and day his com- 
mand had penetrated fifty miles into the interior — as far 
indeed as the fateful field of Olustee — had practically cut 
itself loose from its base of supplies, had encountered the 
enemy at three points, had captured a score of prisoners, 
had seized, destroyed, or caused to be destroyed property 
valued at almost $1,000,000, and had located the main body 
of the Confederate Army — all with a loss of five killed and 
ten wounded. 

While the Federal cavalry was harrying the country 
west of Jacksonville, Federal raiding expeditions set out 
from Fernandina by way of bayous and swamp-paths. 
The raiders shelled the woods from aboard gunboats, 
watched the railway from Georgia, destroyed property, and 
located lumber, timber, and lumber mills for future confis- 
cation and stealing.^ 

At Jacksonville the Federal main body was preparing to 
move forward into the interior. The town soon began to 
assume a more prosperous air. Traders came with the 
army and were given permission to land their merchandise. 
Half -starved Unionists and a few stray negroes came in 
from the surrounding country. As the Federal lines were 
extended to the west the property of the " rebels " was 
seized and droves of cattle and hogs were driven into town. 
Treasury agents were busy hunting cotton, turpentine, and 

^Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 357-8. Maj. Pennypacker's 
Report. The 97th Pennsylvania was in camp at Fernandina and did 
most of this raiding. After a night march of five hours through 
swamps a small Confederate force was surprised and captured before 
day, February 9th. On ihe same day the gunboat Para went 30 miles 
up the Nassau river shelling the woods and taking an inventory of 
several lumberinj^ plants. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 28 1 

timber.^ Mr. Lincoln's Amnesty Proclamation of Decem- 
ber 8th and General Gillmore's orders were posted in con- 
spicuous places.^ General Seymour, however, was not opti- 
mistic over the Florida situation. He informed his chief, 
Gillmore, that what had " been said of desire of Florida 
to come back now [into the Union] is a delusion. The 
backbone of the rebellion is not here, and Florida will not 
cast its lot with the Union till more important successes 
elsewhere are assured. ... I would advise that the force 
be withdrawn at once from the interior [Baldwin — twenty 
miles west of Jacksonville], and that Jacksonville alone be 
held." He added significantly, " Stickney and others have 
misinformed you." ^ 

The outlook in East Florida for the Confederacy was 
perilous.* General Finegan's army, hovering somewhere be- 
tween Jacksonville and Lake City, was facing a critical situ- 
ation. Composed of 1,800 infantry, 450 cavalry, and two 
batteries it was confronting a well-equipped and well-offi- 
cered army easily twice as strong numerically and guided by 
men who knew the country as natives.^ Under the stimu- 

* N. Y. Herald and A^. Y. Times, February 23, 1864. 

*N. Y. Times, February 23, 1864; Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln's Com- 
plete Works, V. 2, p. 442. 

' Off, Reds. Retell. , s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 282. Also Gen. Jones' article. 
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, v. 4, pp. 76-77. 

* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 28, pt. 2, pp. 601-605. Total number of 
troops present for duty in Mil. Districts of East and Middle Florida 
(all of Florida east of Apalachicola river) was reported by Gen. 
Beauregard on December 31, 1863, to be 3,709—1,326 of whom were in 
East Florida. These were Georgia and Florida troops. The 64th 
Georgia infantry was ordered from Middle Florida to Savannah, 
Georgia, on December 28th. The troops were scattered over a vast 
stretch of country. 

* Gen. Seymour was a veteran of the Mexican War and a good offi- 
cer. See accounts in N. Y. Times, March 6, 1864, and in Herald, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1864. 



282 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

lating influence of success partly attained the Union army 
had already begun its slow march west. Unless Finegan re- 
ceived reinforcements he could not hope to successfully 
check the invasion. He expected aid from Southern Georgia 
and South Carolina. The Georgia and Florida railroad which 
almost connected Florida's railway system with that of 
Georgia had a gap of twenty-six miles ^ and was guarded 
by Federal outposts. These facts made the moving of 
troops into Florida tedious — and time is the factor which 
counts most in campaigning. 

General Beauregard narrowly watched the movements of 
the Federal army and fleet opposing him along the Georgia 
and South Carolina coast. Immediately following the sail- 
ing of the Federal expedition from Hilton Head, S. C, for 
Florida demonstrations were made by Union forces against 
Johns island, Georgia, to attract attention away from Flor- 
ida. So serious seemed the situation that General Colquitt 
and a brigade of Georgia troops were sent by Beauregard to 
reinforce General Wise on the coast.'^ Beauregard knew well 
at the time that the interior of Florida was threatened. The 
problem before him was to reinforce Florida without haz- 
arding Confederate occupation of Charleston and Savan- 
nah.^ On February nth. the Confederate batteries opened 
tremendously on Morris island as if an attack by assault 
was in preparation. Federal forces were thereupon shifted 
to Morris island from Johns island, and, the pressure evi- 
dently relieved, Colquitt's brigade slipped away for Florida.* 

Meanwhile General Gillmore had come to Jacksonville 
and was advising a very cautious program to his subordi- 

' Off. Reds. RcbelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 323. 

* Ibid., pp. 284, 322. 

^ Ibid., pp. 109-111. Letters of Beauregard to Jones and Seddon. 

^ Ibid., pp. 112, 323; also A'. Y. Herald, February 13, 1864. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 283 

nate, General Seymour, in actual command of the expedi- 
tion then piercing the interior and already beyond Baldwin. 
" Eight companies of the 54th Mass. ordered to Baldwin. 
Don't risk an advance on Lake City. Hold Sanderson," he 
wired on February nth from Jacksonville to Seymour.^ 
Later in the day he wired : " Concentrate at Sanderson and 
on the St. Marys if advance meets serious opposition"; 
and the next day : " Want your command concentrated at 
Baldwin at once ".' 

Thus the invasion which Gillmore tried to direct was 
certainly cautious, almost timid, and finally an out-and-out 
withdrawal from the neighborhood of Sanderson to Bald- 
win, nearer Jacksonville. He feared a surprise.^ 

The opposing troops of Finegan went into permanent 
camp on February 13th, near Olustee or Ocean Pond — a 
few miles east of Lake City and fifty miles west of Jack- 
sonville. Finegan selected a position between two small 
lakes with each flank protected by marsh and open water. 
The place was in fact a gap through a swampy bit of coun- 
try. Through this gap ran the pike and railway to the 
richer interior. Across the gap the Confederate army 
threw up entrenchments and awaited the advance of the in- 
vaders. * 

While the main body of the Federal army was hesitating 
to advance deeper into the enemy's country Confederate 
troops were moving from Georgia into Florida, and Fed- 

1 Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 282. 

^Ibid., pp. 283-284. 

^Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, v. 4, ;,p. 76-80; articles by 
Gen. Jones (C. S. A.) and Gen. Hawhy (U. S. A.). 

* Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 326. Also Battles and Leaders 
of the Civil War, v. 4, p. 77. Gen. Jones' article. " The position pos- 
sessed strength provided the enemy would attack it directly in front, 
but could be easily turned." 



284 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

eral cavalry continued its raiding. On February 14th, 
Captain Marshall with three companies of the 4th Mass. 
Cavalry rode into Gainesville — more than fifty miles south- 
west of Jacksonville — and took possession of food, military 
stores and cotton valued at $1,000,000. A portion of the 
food was given to the remaining inhabitants of Gainesville, 
no private property was destroyed, and the people were told 
that they would not be disturbed if they kept in-doors after 
dark. 

Two days later a band of Confederate light cavalry ar- 
rived at Gainesville led by Captain Dickison, a remarkably 
bold, aggressive and successful guerilla chief. The Federal 
troops barricaded a portion of the town street with cotton 
bales and attempted with the aid of some negroes to beat 
off the attack. After several hours of firing the Federal 
raiders with some loss withdrew from the town and re- 
treated toward Jacksonville, abandoning the captured prop- 
erty.^ 

From Fernandina raiding parties continued to harass the 
country for a radius of thirty or forty miles — seizing will- 
ing negroes, burning mills, and gathering " Union " refu- 
gees and Confederate deserters into Federal lines.^ So far, 
the operations of the invading military had been highly 
successful in seizing and destroying property. 

General Gillmore had left Jacksonville for Hilton Head, 
S. C, when on February 17th General Seymour — then at 
Baldwin — sent him the surprising intelligence that he in- 
tended to proceed at once to the Suwanee river to destroy 

' Off. Reds. RehelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 296; A^^. Y. Tribune, February 
29, 1864. See also Dickison and His Men, by Mrs. Eliz. Dickison. 
Uickison's exploits in Florida are comparable to those of Marion and 
Sumter in South Carolina during the American Revolution. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 360. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 285 

the railroad bridge there.^ The river was 100 miles west of 
Jacksonville. The movement was not in accord with Gill- 
more's policy. When he heard of it he stated that he was 
" very much confused ", and that he " had no intention to 
occupy that part of the state ". ^ He tried to stop the for- 
ward movement but the news had reached him at Hilton 
Head, S. C, too late.^ Before his orders reached Florida 
the Federal army was swung out from Baldwin on its fatal 
march toward Lake City and the Suwanee. Between it and 
Lake City was Olustee where the Confederate army was 
entrenched.* 

Colquitt's brigade from Georgia had arrived.' " We tell 
the people of Florida to be of good cheer," appeared in the 
Tallahassee Floridian. " Don't give up in despair. Don't 
lend a credulous ear to false or exaggerated rumors. Rally 
to the defense of your country. Every man should have 
his arms and equipment in readiness for immediate use. 

1 Off. Reds. Rehell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 284. 

' Ibid., pp. 285-6. Yet Gillmore on February i8th said in a letter to 
Seymour, " a raid to tear up the railroad west of Lake City will be of 
service, but I have no intention to occupy now that part of the State." 

* Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, v. 8, p. 284. " Gen. Gillmore received 
Seymour's letter concerning his intended advance after he had reached 
Hilton Head, S. C. Gillmore at once wrote a peremptory order re- 
straining Seymour's advance and sent it to Florida by a special staff 
officer — but it came too late to prevent Olustee." 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, v. 4, p. 79. Gen. Hawley's article 
on Olustee. Hawley led the 7th Connecticut in that battle. He says: 
"At Baldwin a night or two before the battle Gen. Seymour called 
together six or eight of his officers for consultation. Some were 
cautious ; others, outspoken ; but it was decidedly the general opinion 
that it would be impossible to hold permanently out toward the center 
of the state. . . . Most of us thought that it would be sufficient to at- 
tempt to make the St. Johns River our main western line, but Sey- 
mour thought it was his duty to go on. He was and is a brave and 
honorable patriot and soldier." 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 331. Report Gen. Finegan. 



286 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

If a Yankee army ever penetrated into the forests and 
swamps of Florida it would be a shame if it were allowed 
to escape, nor will it if our generals and people do their 
duty." ^ The Confederate force at Olustee consisted now 
of 4,600 infantry, less than 600 cavalry, and three batteries 
of twelve guns.^ 

On the 19th, the head of the Federal army was at Bar- 
ber's Station on the St. Marys. Just at dusk the order was 
passed to those gathered around the crackling camp fires to 
prepare several days' cooked rations for a rapid advance to 
begin on the morrow. Tough work was ahead.* 

February 20th. A member of the expedition declared 
" the day was as beautiful as ever dawned. A clear sky 
above us, and the savannah that stretched out on either side 
of the sandy road which wound through pine woods was 
warm with the golden sunlight pouring through the resinous 
pine tops and lending to the air a balmy fragrance." * Be- 
fore the sun was well up the Federal army — 5,500 strong — 
was moving ahead in column of companies, and soon in two 
columns, one along the railway, and one by the pike.^ 

* Quoted from the Tallahassee Floridian in N. Y. Herald, March i, 
1864. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 331. The Confederate force 
was organized in three brigades as follows: ist Brigade: I9,.h, 23rd, 
27th, 28th Georgia Infantry and 6th Battalion Florida Infantry with 
Chatham Artillery (4 guns) attached; 2nd Brigade: 1st, 32nd, 64th 
Georgia Infantry, ist Fla. Battalion of Infantry and Bonaud's Bat'alion 
of Florida Infantry with Guerard's Light Artillery and the Florida 
Light Artillery attached (8 guns); 3rd Brigade: 2nd Florida Cavalry. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 286, 298. Barber's Station 
was 32 miles west of Jacksonville on the South Fork of the St. Marys 
river. P. 303 — Report Col. Hawley — " We had 10 days' supply of hard 
bread and three days of coffee and sugar." 

* Oscar Sawyer, A^ Y. Herald, March i, 1864. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 288, 301, 307, 3io, 311, 33"^, 339- 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 287 

Along the roadside stood the lofty brown-red trunks of the 
yellow pines — which rose here and there like the jasper 
pillars of some vast temple with its votaries moving for- 
ward through a glowing cloud of incense in dimmed light 
— for the day was dry and the road was sandy and a film of 
sand-dust arose which caught the beams of the morning 
sun where the deep, scented shadows of the great dark 
wood let the sunlight through. 

Near mid-day Sanderson was passed. For more than an 
hour the main body continued its march undisturbed, when 
it came upon the Federal advance cavalry which had halted 
on encountering Confederate outposts. Henry's cavalry 
awaited support.^ 

The 7th Connecticut Infantry came up slowly and threw 
out skirmishers. This was more than three miles in ad- 
vance of the Confederate entrenchments at Olustee. The 
face of the country was fairly level and free from under- 
brush — park-like — covered by an " open " pine forest. Less 
than a mile to the north of both armies lay a number of 
small ponds and thick " bays " or swamps. To the south 
was the railroad — parallel with the line of march. Beyond 
the railroad were more stretches of swamp. ^ 

The Federal advance guard had encountered the Confed- 
erate cavalry about mid-day. The 64th Georgia and two 
companies of the 32nd Georgia were sent forward by Fine- 
gan to support the cavalry, followed in a few minutes by 
three more regiments and a battery from Colquitt's brigade. 
The cavalry was spread out on each flank. Half of the 
Southern army had been moved forward from its entrench- 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 303, 307, 331. 

' Lt. M. B. Grant, C. S. Engineer, says, " The enemy advanced in 
force . . . one column by the Lake City and Jacksonville road, the 
other by the railroad." Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 301-339. 
Confederate Military History, v. 11, p. 65. 



288 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

ments/ The Federal army was slowly coming up and in 
three columns was preparing to go into action. This was 
the situation about i :30.^ 

In line of regiments and column of brigades the Federal 
troops advanced, the cavalry retired, and within thirty min- 
utes the cracking of rifles and the chud of cannon were 
sufficiently a roar to indicate that the engagement had fairly 
begun. Finegan ordered to the front out of the trenches 
within the space of an hour practically his entire force. The 
troops came up at double-quick and deftly deployed, the 
men taking to the protection of the trees, logs, stumps, and 
unevenness of the ground as much as possible.^ General 
Colquitt, of Georgia, led the right wing and Colonel Har- 
rison, of Georgia, the left; and soon both wings, without 
much plan but under orders of General Finegan, of Florida, 
who commanded the army, began the work of doubling up 
on itself the Federal army moving forward in columns of 
brigades.* 

The skirmish line of the 7th Connecticut was ordered to 
retire and uncover the 7th New Hampshire advancing on 
the Federal right. It did so and the 7th New Hampshire 
duly unmasked was ordered to form line to the front by the 
left on the eighth company. "^ A tremendous fire was now 
concentrated on this regiment in process of military evolu- 
tion. A portion of the regiment in front went wrong, 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 332, 340, 343, 349. 

' Ibid., p. 343. Gen. Finegan said, " the enemy advanced in three 
columns " ; Lt. M. B. Grant, " The enemy advanced in force . . . the 
64th was soon engaged with the enemy who had advanced to this point 
in three columns, having formed a third column after crossing the 
branch where the road forks." 

» Ibid., pp. 332, 340, 343, 349. 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, v. 4, pp. 77-78. Gen. Jones 
explains the preliminary shifting of troops by both sides. 

"^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 289, 290, 303, 310, 316. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 289 

those behind were thrown into confusion, and under a gall- 
ing fire the 7th New Hampshire broke and ran.^ For the 
rest of the engagement its morale was gone.^ 

The 8th U. S. Colored Infantry occupied the front place 
on the Federal left. After crushing the Federal right wing 
the opposing fire was deliberately turned on this body of 
black soldiers. It held its ground for a few minutes and 
then with a heavy loss in killed and wounded was swept 
back on the troops in the rear.^ The head of the Northern 
army had been simply battered in. 

Barton's Brigade of New York troops now moved for- 
ward through the broken and flying ranks of the ist brigade, 
only to be engulfed in the same well-sustained and fairly ef- 
fective fire.* The hospital corps in the rear of Seymour's 
army soon had its hands full. " While the roar of artillery 
and musketry continued without intermission our wounded 
men began to arrive," recorded a surgeon, 

part walking, some in litters and others in open ambulance 
wagons, as it were, first in single drops, then trickling, and 
after a while in a steady stream, increasing from a single row 
to a double and treble, and finally into a mass. In a half-hour 
from the commencement stray shots passing through tall pines 

^ Battles and Leaders of Civil War, v. 4. Says Gen. Hawley, who 
led the Federal right wing, " Suddenly the 7th New Hampshire moving 
in column 01 companies saw the solid gray line about 250 yards ahead. 
A heavy fire was opened on us. Col. Abbott misunderstood my order 
of deployment ; I undertook to correct the error, and the regiment 
broke." 

' Oif. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 289. The regiment reformed 
and did some service on the Federal right flank and center. 

3 Ibid., pp. 312, 314. Also Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, v. 4, 
p. 80. Gen. Hawley says, " The black men stood to be killed or 
wounded — losing more than 300 out of 500." 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 299, 301. 



290 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

and breaking them off at the trunk Hke canes admonished us 
to remove the depot farther to the rear.^ 

The Federal field artillery rendered little service after 
the first few minutes of fighting. The horses were shot in 
numbers and the gunners were picked off the caissons and 
killed at the guns.^ In Confederate ranks unusual coolness 
and deliberation was evident. For fifteen or twenty minutes 
the 6th and 32nd Georgia stood their ground without am- 
munition and under fire waiting for ammunition to be 
brought up on railroad cars from the rear.^ The Confed- 
erate battle line was steadily pushed forward, sweeping 
back the Federal army which in spite of reverses held its 
ground stubbornly. 

With the approach of night — about 4:30 — the firing 
ceased.* " It was fast growing dark in the pine woods," 
says Colonel Hawley, of the 7th Connecticut. The Northern 
troops were in full retreat toward Jacksonville. Daybreak 
found them 20 miles from the scene of battle.^ The Fed- 
eral loss was 1,861 killed, wounded, and missing; the Con- 
federate, 946.* 

1 0^. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 299. Report Surgeon Moyer. 

^Ibid., s. i, V. 35, pt. I, pp. 31S-19. 

3 Ibid., s. i, V. 35, pt. i, p. 349. Also Battles and Leaders of the 
Civil War, v. 4, pp. 76-80. General Hawley was impressed with 
the " daring gallantry of the young aide-de-camp ", Lieut. Hugh H. 
Colquitt, of Finegan's staff, " who galloped in front of the Confed- 
erates, waving a battle flag and exhorting the men to stand fast." 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 299, 302. " The fight termi- 
nated at night," reported Col. Smith (C. S. A.). 

5 Ibid., pp. 300, 305, 309. 

• Ibid., pp. 298, 2)2>7- The details of the casualties are as follows : 
Federal — Barton's Brigade: 76 killed, 559 wounded, 189 missing; Haw- 
ley's Brigade: 71 killed, 301 wounded, 215 missing; Montgomery's 
Brigade: 35 killed, 196 wounded, 85 missing; Henry's Brigade: 5 
killed, 47 wounded, 5 missing; Hamilton's Brigade: 16 killed, 49 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 29I 

The retreat was well conducted but rapid. A rear guard 
was thrown back. The Confederate cavalry was timid and 
what might have been turned into a rout by aggressive tac- 
tics became the orderly withdrawal of a shattered army. 
Colonel Caraway Smith commanding the Confederate cav- 
alry claimed that the danger of ambuscade prevented a pur- 
suit in the darkness.^ 

The battle of Olustee was confined entirely to the open 
pine woods and an old field more than two miles in advance 
of the Confederate entrenchments. Most of the Southern 
troops came from Georgia. The commander-in-chief was 
an old citizen of East Florida. A third of the Federal 
troops were negroes.^ Most of the whites in the Northern 
army came from New England and New York.^ The ar- 

wounded, 12 missing — totals. 203 killed, 1,152 wounded, 506 missing. 
Confederate — Colquitt's Brigade: 43 killed, 441 wounded, 2 missing; 
Harrison's Brigade: 50 killed, 406 wounded, 4 missing — totals, 93 
killed, 847 wounded, 6 missing. 

^Uff. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 332. " I sent orders to Col. 
Smith," said Gen. tinegan, "to press the enemy on his flanks and to 
continue in the pursuit, but through some misapprehension the orders 
failed to be executed by him." P. 353, Col. Smith said, " The fight 
terminating at night and our infantry lines not being perceptible to me 
through the woods and the face of the country being cut up by 
swamps, making it very favorable for ambushing under cover of night, 
I deemed it unadvisable to press forward." Col. Smith was relieved of 
his command after an investigation because of his action on this occa- 
sion, pp. 352-6. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, v. 4, p. 80. 

2 Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 289-go. 

^ Ibid., p. 288. Report Gen. Seymour. The Federal troops were in 
four brigades as follows : Col. Henry's Mounted Brigade, two squad- 
rons Independent Mass. Cavalry, 40th Mass. Mounted Infantry, and 
Elders' Horse Battery of ist U. S. Artillery (4 guns) ; Hawley's 
Brigade, 7th Conn., 7th New Hampshire, 8th U. S. Colored; Col. Bar- 
ton's Brigade, 47th New York, 48 h New York., 115th New York — 
all infantry; Col. Montgomery's Brigade, 54th Mass. Colored, 1st 
N. C. Colored, Hamilton's Battery of 3rd U. S. Artillery (6 guns), 
James' R. I. Battery (6 guns) — total, 5,500 men and officers and i5 
guns. 



292 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



tillery fire on both sides, though heavy, did comparatively 
little damage, " judging from the marks on the trees " near 
their tops/ The Southern troops took advantage of natural 
cover as the Virginians under Washington in Braddock's 
army had done a hundred years before. The Federal army 
was slightly superior in numbers and very much superior in 
equipment. 

General Gillmore's estimate of the battle given after the 
close of the war is probably a just summing-up. " We 
know since the close of the war," he said, 

that there was no disparity in numbers and we knew at the 
time that the results were a decisive defeat upon the field of 
battle and the frustration — as well by the loss of men as by the 
loss of prestige — of a carefully-digested plan of campaign. 
General Finegan had only about 5,000 men in that battle. Gen- 
eral Seymour, 5,500. Our losses were 1,800 men in killed, 
wounded, and missing. . . . Indeed our forces appear to have 
been surprised into fighting or attempting to fight an offensive 
battle in which the component parts of the command were 
beaten in detail. The enemy did not fight behind entrench- 
ments or any kind of defenses." ^ 

This is a reflection on Seymour. His plan of battle might 
have been improved on, but certainly some of his troops 
proved pretty poor stuff to match against an aggressive 
and skillful enemy. ^ 

The Federal dead and most of the wounded were left on 
the field, as well as five field guns, 1,600 small arms, 400 sets 
of accoutrements, and 130,000 rounds of small arm ammu- 

^ Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 341. 2 /^j^;^ p 290. 

'^ Ibid., pp. 290, 304, 316, 318, 341. See also accounts in A''. Y. Herald, 
February 27, 28, March i, 1864; iY. Y. Times. M?rch i, 1864; account 
from Lake City Columbian (Confederate account) in N. Y. Times, 
March 6, 1864. Sawyer's account in the Herald for March ist, is 
the best press account. Sawyer was with the army. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 



293 



nition, the latter damaged by being thrown into a nearby 
pond. The cannon, accoutrements, and small arms were 
distributed among the Confederate troops. The damaged 
ammunition was sent to the ordnance bureau at Savannah, 
Georgia, to be made over.^ 

Olustee was a bloody check to the 1 Jnion cause in Flor- 
ida. It did not result in the withdrawal of the Federal 
army from the East Coast, but rather in confining Federal 
lines to Jacksonville, Fernandina, and St. Augustine — 
from which points small raiding parties slipped out to 
desolate and harry the country.^ Six days after Olustee, 
Confederate lines had been pushed to within a dozen miles 
of Jacksonville.^ 

This expedition to Florida had failed in both its political 
and military objects — not so completely in the latter as in 
the former. The Northern press hostile to the Lincoln 
administration did not let the disaster pass without unfavor- 
able comment — in fact, some journals criticised before the 
disaster. " Of course no military purpose took an army 
into Florida," stated the New York World, "as the conquest 
of Florida would do no more to put down the rebellion 
than would the occupation of Yucatan or Coney Island. 
The object is political. Florida has been marked out as 
one of the rotten borough states which are to help to make 
Mr. Lincoln President." * The New York Daily News 
alluded to the "Florida Tragedy"^ (Olustee) and held 
Mr. Lincoln " responsible ". The Herald stated that the 
Florida expedition was undertaken to bring the state back 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 342-343. 

'Ibid., pp. 19-23, 30-33, 35-38, 364-371, 374-376, 381-384, 393-398, 419- 
423, 426, 427-444, etc. 

' Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 333. 

* N. Y. World, February 13, 1864. 

* Townsend Library (Columbia University), v. 42, p. 115. 



294 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

into the Union in order that Mr. Lincohi might have three 
more delegates for him in the nominating convention and 
Mr. Hay might go to Congress.' The Richmond (Va.) 
Examiner referred to the slaughter of negro troops at 
Olustee and stated that some of them had been promised 
farm lands in Florida for their services in conquering the 
state. ^ 

In the Federal Congress the Joint Committee on the Con- 
duct of the War presented an optimistic view of what 
happened in Florida ^ — for a regular part of the game of 
war and pcditics is to minimize reverses or twist them into 
victories. Secretary Seward with his characteristic optimism 
believed that " the defeat of General Seymour at Olustee 
in Florida was a surprise and a disaster, but it was no more 
than that ; it drew neither serious consequences nor strategic 
embarrassments after it." * Secretary Gideon Welles of 
the navy department jotted down in his diary, February 
27th: 

Seward told me, in a whisper, that we had met a serious re- 
verse in Florida. It is not mentioned in the papers. This 
suppressing a plump and plain fact, already accomplished, be- 
cause unfortunate, is not wise. The Florida expedition has 
been one of the secret movements that lave been projected, I 
know not by whom, but suspect the President has been trying 
a game himself. He has done such things, and, I believe, al- 
ways unfortunately. I may be wrong in my conclusions, but his 
Secretary, John Hay, was sent off to join the forces at Port 
Royal and this expedition was then commenced. Admiral 
Dahlgren went off on it without orders from me, and had only 

' A^. Y. Herald, February 23, 1864. 

* Richmond Examiner, March 12, 1864; also A^. Y. World, February 
18, March i, 1864; N. Y. Times, February 13, [864; February 28, 1864. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 292. 

*" Diary," Seward's Works (Baker Ed.), v. 5, p. 120. 



THE OLUSTEE CAMPAIGN 295 

time to advise me he was going. Though he has general 
directions to cooperate with the army, he would not have done 
this but from high authority.^ 

The immediate results of this expedition to Florida were 
about as follows: the capture, confiscation, stealing, or 
destruction of cotton, lumber, timber, turpentine, forage, 
live stock, food, clothing, and military supplies to the 
amount of more than $1,000,000; the recruitment of a few 
score negroes for the black regiments ; the capture of a few 
score Confederate soldiers and eight cannon; the failure 
to reconstruct the state government on a basis of loyalty 
to the tinion ; the loss of about 2,000 men in a bloody battle ; 
the hasty retreat of the invading army.' But the " Union 
bent " politicians of East Florida did not give up with 
Olustee. Nothing daunted them. Like Dickens' Mark 
Tapley, they found pleasure in misery, and like Mr. Micaw- 
ber, they awaited for something to " turn up ". A full 
delegation went from Florida to the Republican convention 
at Baltimore in the summer of 1864.* 

^Diary of Gideon Welles, v. i, p. 531. 

* Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 275-408. 

3 N. Y. Tribune, June 6, 1884. Delegates, all from East Florida, as 
follows: Buckingham Smith, St. Augustine; Jno. W. Smith, Jackson- 
ville; C. L. Robinson, Jacksonville; J. S. Sammis, Jacksonville; Philip 
Fraser, Jacksonville; Paran Moody, Jacksonville. 



CHAPTER XII 

The Last Year's Fighting 

The result of the fighting at Olustee forced the Federal 
troops in East Florida back to the three fortified towns on 
the northeast coast — Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. 
Augustine. By the first of March, 1864, 8,000 Confederate 
troops from Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Flor- 
ida were strung out in a north-and-south line along the 
banks of McGirts creek, ^ twelve miles west of Jackson- 
ville. General Beauregard was in Florida personally di- 
recting the construction of a line of formidable works, 
three miles in length, built of " huge logs firmly fastened 
and covered with earth ". McGirts creek was a tortuous 
and deep moat for this barricade. The fortifications fol- 
lowed the course of the creek, a stone's throw to the west. 
The northern and southern flanks of the line were well 
protected by almost impassable swamps and sloughs.^ 

1 Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 368. Report of Gen. Patton 
Anderson (C. S. A.) commanding the District of Florida. 

'^ Ibid., pp. 401-2. Gen. Gordon (U. S. A.) wrote after personally 
inspecting the works : " The log part was six feet wide at the bottom 
and three feet at the top. They were proof against field artillery. 
The stockades were composed of timbers from 12 to 16 inches thick 
with loop holes two feet apart. Their base was protected by ear h 
thrown up from a ditch which ran along the whole line of works. 
There was a salient or re-entering angle at about every 150 yards. 
Two batteries in the rear completely commanded the railroad, and 
in addition to being very strong were most elaborately finished, hav- 
ing a sharpness of outline almost equal to masonry. This line ex- 
tended one and one-half miles, when a new line began. Across the 
296 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 297 

Eight miles in the rear, powerful stockades and entrench- 
ments stretched about the east, north, and south of Bald- 



wm. 



By the first of April, 1864, the works were complete. 
They were constructed under the direction of a skilful en- 
gineer (Beauregard) and seriously embarrassed Federal 
occupation of Northeast Florida. Two weeks after their 
completion a change of policy rendered most of this labor 
useless. Brigadier-General John P. Hatch, of the Union 
army, who commanded the Department of the South, began 
to withdraw troops from Florida. General Beauregard, in- 
formed by spies of this, was forced to withdraw Confed- 
erate troops from Florida as the immediate pressure there 
was relieved. The Southern forces in Florida were hurried 
to Savannah and into Virginia. The Confederate troops 
remaining in the state by the advent of the summer of 
1864 were not sufficient to man these breastworks before 
Jacksonville and at the same time combat at other points 
the mroads of Federal raiders. 

By the middle of Alay, 1864, two-thirds of all Federal 
and Confederate forces in East Florida a month earlier 
had left the state. ^ For the rest of the war Florida was no 
more the scene of extensive movements by large bodies of 
soldiers. The state was harassed by a dismal series of 

dirt road north of the railroad the works were of the same class as 
those described, except that the stockades had platforms and em- 
brasures for field pieces. The works at that point were most solidly 
constructed and beautifully finished." 

' f !' ^'"^'i ^'^''^■' '• '' ''■ ^^' P*- '' P- 371- Confederate spies re- 
ported that between April 8 and May 9 more than 9,000 troops left 
Jacksonville by transport. The course of the corresponding Confed- 
erate withdrawal was as follows: April 14, nth S. C. ; i6th 59th Va • 
16-17, _i8th S. C, a siege train, and 26th Va. ; 19. Colquitt's Brigade of 
Georgia troops; 21, Gamble's Battery; 23, 4th Ga. Cavalry; 29, 64th 
Ga. Infantry; May 2. Naval Volunteers; 4, 5th Ga. Cavalry; 7, 1st 
Ga. Regulars. The destination of these troops was Savannah 



298 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



forays : night marches, surprises, captures, skirmishes, 
burnings, pillagings, robberies, murders, strokes and coun- 
ter-strokes in active guerilla warfare, with now and then a 
skirmish which partook of the character of a formal battle. 
In East, West, and South Florida the only plan followed by 
the Federal army was to harry and desolate the country 
wherever and whenever possible. Detachments of mounted 
troops moved often under cover of night and usually 
sought cotton, cattle, and personal effects. The Confed- 
erate plan of resistance — if plan it can be called — was to 
dog the course of a superior force with skirmishing from 
cover; or to attempt by strategy and aggression to over- 
whelm smaller bodies. 

This last phase of the war presents a hideous and hope- 
less spectacle. The early glory, glamor, and promise of 
the struggle have faded. People know now the significance 
of the prayer " Good Lord deliver us from battle and 
murder, and from sudden death ". Marauders move with 
the shadows. 

" Hark, in the crackling brushwood 

There are feet that tread this way. 
There's rapine, fire, and slaughter 

From the mountains down to the shore; 
There's blood on the trampled harvest 

And blood on the homestead floor." ^ 

As military operations in Florida lacked the size and 
definite co-ordination of an organized campaign, a brief 
chronicle of the principal movements and engagements will 
furnish, probably, the clearest and fairest statement of how 
the war was fought to a finish in Florida. 

March i, 1864. A Federal column of cavalry and light 
artillery advances from Jacksonville toward McGirts creek. 

* Dc Bow's Review, September, 1866. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 



299 



After five hours of feeble skirmishing with trifling loss in 
wounded on each side it retires to Jacksonville/ 

March 10. Palatka — a village on the west bank of the 
St. Johns fifty miles south of Jacksonville — is occupied by 
four Federal regiments supported by several gunboats. No 
opposition is encountered. The Federal troops fortify 
their position.^ 

March 12-13. The Federal gunboat Columbine pro- 
ceeds up the St. Johns into Lake George where it captures 
without opposition the steamboat Sumter with passen- 
gers and crew.^ 

March 13. Confederate cavalry attack Federal out- 
posts near Palatka, capturing two and driving in the 
others.* 

March 31. A second skirmish occurs near Palatka with 
firing at long range. Confederate light cavalry forms a 
slender but fairly effective cordon about the town." 

April I. The Federal steam transport, Maple Leaf 
en route from Palatka to Jacksonville, is destroyed by a 
Confederate torpedo. She sinks in twelve minutes with a 
loss of four men. The narrows of the St. Johns river are 

' Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 33. 

^ Ibid., p. 22; N. Y. Herald, March 17, 1864; N. Y. Times, March 17, 
1864. 

^ Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 374-6. Reports of Brig-Gen. 
T. Seymour and Col. W. H. Barton (U. S. A.), commanding expedi- 
tion. N. Y. Tribune, Apr. i, 1864. The Tribune refers to the capture 
of several other steamers on the Central Florida lakes on this same 
expedition, among them the " Hattie " with several hundred bales of 
cot' on aboard. Official reports do not contain these details. It is pos- 
sible that graft entered into the disposal of property captured on raids. 

* Oif. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 383-384. Reports of Gen. 
Hatch and Col. G. V. Henry (40th Mass.), U. S. A., commanding Fed- 
eral troops in engagement. 

^ Ibid., pp. 378-9. Report of Col. W. B. Barton (48th N. Y.), com- 
manding. 



300 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



thickly planted with torpedoes by Confederate engineers 
working under cover of night/ 

April 2. The 40th Massachusetts Cavalry and two regi- 
ments of negro infantry move out of Jacksonville west to 
Cedar creek. Colonel Guy V. Henry commands. Severe 
skirmishing follows. The Federal forces are driven in with 
eight wounded. The Confederate loss is not recorded.^ 

April 1-2. A Federal detachment moves from Palatka 
south to Fort Gates, skirmishing with Confederate out- 
posts, plundering, and taking horses and cattle. A detach- 
ment of the 5th Georgia Cavalry is surprised by the Fed- 
eral troops and nine men are captured without violence. 

April I. Late at night Confederate cavalry surprise and 
capture three mounted pickets of the 40th Massachusetts 
Cavalry.^ 

April 16. The Federal steam transport Hunter is blown 
up by a torpedo near the wreck of the Maple Leaf. She 
sinks immediately with valuable quarter-master's stores. 
One man is drowned.* 

April 16. Federal troops begin to evacuate Palatka. 
They burn and otherwise destroy what they cannot carry 
away, and take up a new position at Picolata — on the east 
bank of the St. Johns and twenty miles nearer Jackson- 
ville. The site of Palatka is again occupied some weeks 
later.'' 

April 26-May 6. A Federal expedition supported by 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 380-381. Reports of Brig- 
Gen. J. P. Hatch (U. S. A.) and of Capt. E. P. Bryan (C. S. A.), 
who placed the torpedo. Rpt. Secy. Navy (U. S.), 1864-5, p. 301. 

* Off Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 383-4. Reports of Gen. J. P. 
Ha'ch and Col. G. V. Henry (U. S. A.). 

' Ibid., pp. 381-383- 

* Ibid., pp. 387-388. Report Gen. J. P. Hatch (U. S. A.). 

^ Ibid., pp. 387-388. Rpt. Secy. Navy (U. S.), 1864-5, p. 303. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 



301 



gunboats moves from Jacksonville southward, along the 
east bank of the St. Johns to Lake Monroe. Two schooners 
loaded with cotton are taken at Smyrna, a few furloughed 
Confederate soldiers are captured in their homes, and the 
country traversed is plundered of its horses, mules, cattle, 
and cotton. No opposition is encountered. The success of 
the movement encourages plans for a larger expedition into 
South-Central Florida.^ 

May 6-y. A Federal expedition of negro infantry and 
Union Florida cavalry (white) enters Tampa bay on 
board Federal gunboats before daylight, May 6th. At 
daybreak the town is surprised. " The appearance of 
Tampa is desolate in the extreme," wrote the officer com- 
manding. " There are very few men in the place — hardly 
one able-bodied man between eighteen and fifty years of 
age." The town is pillaged. Private citizens are arrested 
at the town " hotel ". Three are shot " while trying to es- 
cape ". The fortifications about Tampa are burned or 
broken-up. The Federal troops depart on the gunboats. 
Practically no opposition is made by the irregular Confed- 
erate cavalry in the vicinity.^ 

May p. The Federal steam transport Harriet Weed is 
destroyed on the St. Johns by a torpedo. Six of the crew 
go down with the vessel. This is the third steamer de- 
stroyed on the St. Johns in forty days.' 

' Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35. pt. i, pp. 388-389. Report of Gen. Wm. 
Birney, U. S. A., commanding the expedition. A''. Y. Tribune, May 18, 
1864. The Tribune states that the expedition captured more than 
S.ooo cattle, a large number of horses and mules, and more than $1,- 
000,000 worth of cotton. This is doubtless a heavy exaggeralion. 
Report Secy. Navy (U. S.), 1864-5, pp. 310-16. 

2 Ibid., pp. 389-391- Reports of Brig.-Gen. D. P. Woodbury and Col. 
Fellows (2nd U. S. Colored Infy.), U. S. A. 

' Ibid., p. 392. Reports of Brig.-Gen. J. P. Hatch, U. S. A., and 
Maj.-Gen. P. Anderson, C. S. A. Also p. 117, Rpt. Maj.-Gen. S. 
Jones, C. S. A. Also account in N. Y. Tribune, May 18, 1864. 



302 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

May ip. Confederate cavalry under Dickison surprise 
and capture the Federal garrison of sixteen men at Welaka 
— on the east side of the St. Johns south of Palatka.^ 

May 21. Confederate cavalry under Dickison surprise 
and capture the Federal post at Saunders — near Welaka — 
w^ith garrison of forty-one men. The more important 
Federal post at Volusia is threatened.^ 

May 21. A Federal relief expedition of 700 infantry on 
board armed transports sets out from Jacksonville at eleven 
o'clock in the evening. Its destination is Volusia.^ 

May 22. The Federal relief expedition is put ashore 
opposite Palatka and begins its march toward Volusia. 
The gunboats are ordered to send up rockets if menaced 
with serious attack. Confederate scouts concealed in the 
woods are watching the movements of the Federal troops. 
Captain Dickison picks out twenty of his best riflemen and 
one battery of the Milton Light Artillery. Under cover he 
follows the three Federal gunboats until after dark, and 
at a favorable point opens fire with the artillery and rifles — 
concentrating on the steamer Columbine. " After the sec- 
ond fire from our battery she became disabled," he records. 
" We continued to pour canister and solid shot while our 
sharp-shooters kept a constant and well-directed fire until 
she became unmanageable and grounded. . . . Her colors 
were shot away and her white flag was hoisted. The en- 
gagement lasted forty-five minutes. After the engagement 
several jumped overboard and swam to the opposite shore 

' Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 393-396. Reports of Brig.- 
Gen. Geo. Gordon, U. S. A., and Maj.-Gen. Sam. Jones, C. S. A. 
There is some contradiction in the details of these reports. 

* Ibid., pp. 393-396; A'^. Y. Herald, June 3, 1864. 
' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 394. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 303 

but most were drowned." The loss on the Columbine is 
found to be twenty killed. Sixty-live are taken prisoner 
— among them the wounded. Most of the killed and 
wounded are negro soldiers of the 35th Infantry. The 
other two Federal gunboats — Houghton and Ottawa — are 
damaged by the artillery but escape toward Jacksonville. 
No one is injured in the Confederate command.^ 

May 2j. Long-distance skirmishing occurs between 
Jacksonville and Camp Finegan, to the west. No one is 
injured. " I have not men enough to spare any without 
more gain than Florida pines," records the Federal com- 
mander.^ 

June 2-j. A Federal expedition, 2,500 strong, moves in 
two columns by night from Jacksonville toward the forti- 
fications along McGirts creek. Three of the eight regi- 
ments are black. The small Confederate force retires with- 
out resistance and making a detour attacks the Federal 
force in the rear. The latter retreats to Jacksonville. The 
loss is a few wounded on both sides.^ 

June 15-20. A Federal raiding expedition of blacks and 
whites moves from Jacksonville to Trout creek. The raid- 
ers plunder and destroy lumber and a saw-mill and collect 
negroes and some personal booty. They engage a small 

1 Naval War Reds., s. i, v. 15, pp. 440-454 (Un. and Confed. Re- 
ports). Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 393-398. Reports of 
Brig.-Gen. Geo. Gordon, U. S. A., Maj.-Gen. Sam. Jones, C. S. A., 
and Capt. J. J. Dickison, C. S. -A..; and Gen. Orders no. 25 (Dist. Fla.), 
C. S. A. Also account in A'^. Y. Herald, June 3, 1864. Letter from 
Hilton Head. Rpt. Secy. Navy, 1864-5, pp. 326-37. Mrs. Dickison, 
Dickison and His Men, passim. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 399. Report of Gen. Geo. 
Gordon, U. S. A. 

* Itid., pp. 401-403. Reports of Brig.-Gen. Geo. Gordon, U. S. A. 
(commanding expedition) ; and Maj.-Gen. P. Anderson, C. S. A. 



304 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

band of Confederate cavalry and suffer a loss of one killed 
and one wounded. The Confederate loss is not recorded/ 

July 2^-28. The Federal army at Jacksonville makes a 
determined move against the Confederate fortifications on 
McGirts creek. It drives the Confederate garrison from the 
breastworks, burns the railroad-bridge over the St. Marys, 
tears up a section of railroad track between Cedar Keys and 
Baldwin, and captures twelve prisoners and a quantity of 
stores — all with a trifling loss in wounded. The Federal 
troops occupy Baldwin.^ 

August S- Federal troops abandon Palatka. Confed- 
erate cavalry capture without violence eight men of the 40th 
Massachusetts Cavalry near Palatka.^ 

August 10-12. Negro troops begin the destruction of 
the railroad track between Jacksonville and Baldwin. They 
are attacked by Confederate cavalry near Magnolia. The 
engagement is not decisive. The Federal loss is one killed 
and four wounded. The Confederate loss is not recorded.* 

August 15. Baldwin is evacuated by the Union troops. 
As the army moves out in two columns the village and for- 
tifications are set afire. One column proceeds toward Cedar 
Keys — south; the other, toward Gainesville — southeast.^ 

August 16. The Cedar Keys column encounters no oppo- 
sition. " The next morning," recorded the leader, " we 

^ Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 410-413. Reports of Brig.- 
Gen. Birney, U. S. A.; Lt.-Col. A. H. McCormick, U. S. A., and Maj.- 
Gen. Jones, C S. A. 

' Ibid., pp. 419-423. ^Reports of Brig.-Gen. Wm. Birney and Lt.-Col. 
A. H. McCormick, U. S. A. Also see account in N. Y. Times, August 
8, 1864. 

' Oif. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 36. 

* Ibid., p. 426. Report of Brig.-Gen. J. P. Hatch, U. S. A. 

* Ibid., p. 36. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 



305 



continued our route southward by the road leading through 
the Sand Hill Lake country — a most interesting and beau- 
tiful region. We encamped at night at Shake Rug Cor- 
ner." The expedition ruthlessly plunders and burns. ^ 

August J/. The column of Federal troops from Bald- 
win heading southeast make a night march to Starke — a 
railroad junction. There it sets fire to railroad cars and 
warehouses full of supplies, and promptly pushes on to 
Gainesville. The raiders enter that town just after day- 
light. They begin to pillage the almost deserted homes. 
Outposts bring information that Confederate cavalry is 
approaching, and in a few minutes 175 horsemen led by 
Dickison burst into Gainesville. A savage, scattered fight 
follows. The Federal force is utterly dispersed. Twenty- 
eight are killed, five wounded, and almost two hundred 
taken prisoners. About 125 escape to the woods. The 
Confederate loss is one killed and five wounded.' 

September 24. Dickison's cavalry menaces the Federal 
garrison at Magnolia. The Federal troops throw up en- 
trenchments.' 

September 28. A Federal raiding column moves from 
St. Augustine and Jacksonville southward into Volusia 
County — east of the St. Johns river. Cotton and cattle are 

' Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 429-431. Report of Col. W. 
H. Noble, U. S. A., commanding expedition. Gen. J. P. Hatch (U. S. 
A.) said of Noble's report: "I am sorry to state that Col. Noble did 
not take the route he was instructed to take. His movement was in- 
tended to be a demonstration against Lake City, to be made on the 
west side of the railroad. He appears to have kept almost entirely 
to the east side of the road." 

* Ibid., pp. 22-23, 427-440. Reports of Brig.-Gen. J. P. Hatch (U. S. 
A.); Col. W. H. Noble (U. S. A.); Col. A. L. Harris (U. S. A.); 
Maj.-Gen. S. Jones (C. S. A.); Brig.-Gen. J. K. Jackson (C. S. A.); 
Capt. J. J. Dickison (C. S. A.) ; Col. A. H. McCormick (U. S. A.). 

* Ibid., p. 37. 



3o6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

sought but very little is found. No armed opposition is en- 
countered/ 

October 4-8. Federal raiders again enter Volusia County. 
They obtain some horses and mules and a few prisoners. 
Again no armed opposition is encountered.^ 

October 11-15. ^ small Federal raiding column moves 
south from Jacksonville, plundering orange groves. Oper- 
ations are exclusively east of the St. Johns. ^ 

October 24. A detachment of Federal cavalry and in- 
fantry (blacks and whites), fifty-five strong, moves out 
from Magnolia going south. They burn and plunder some 
of the remaining homes in the neighborhood. Dickison's 
cavalry attacks them on the flank, killing ten, wounding 
eight, and capturing twenty-three. " By the protection of 
Divine Providence," reports Dickison, "all come out safe." * 

Novejnber 4. The post of Magnolia, west of Jackson- 
ville is abandoned by the Federal military. Empire Mills 
on the St. Johns above Jacksonville is also abandoned. 
Federal troops are concentrated at Jacksonville.^ 

December 24. Colonel Noble, of the 17th Connecticut, 
Captain Young, of the 117th Ohio, and Lieutenant Rice, of 
the 35th Colored Infantry are captured by two Confederate 
scouts while en route from Jacksonville to St. Augustine." 

February 5, 1865. Fifty-two men of the 17th Connecti- 

1 Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. zi- 

2 Ibid., p. 38. 

* Ibid., p. 38. " Over 300 bbls. were obtained. A part was distributed 
to the troops in the district and the remainder shipped to Hilton 
Head." 

* Ibid., pp. 38, 446-447. Report of Capt. J. J. Dickison, C. S. A. The 
Federals claim that only three were killed. They admit a total loss in 
killed, wounded, and captured of 29. Richmond Whig, Nov. 6, 1864. 

^ Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 44, pp. 824-825; v. 47, pt. 2, p. 1006. Letter 
of Brig.-Gen. E. Scammon, U. S. A. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 307 

cut leave Jacksonville with forty horses on a raid for cotton. 
Eighty men under Dickison surprise this detachment at 
Braddock's Farm, near Welaka. The raiders lose one man 
killed and one wounded. The entire Federal command sur- 
renders/ 

March 7-12. An expedition of negro soldiers and civil- 
ians moves from Jacksonville south into Marion County. 
Horses and cattle are taken from owners. Confederate 
cavalry engage the band, killing two and wounding one.^ 

March 17. Picolata is definitively abandoned. Its Fed- 
eral garrison is transferred to St. Augustine.^ 

March 19. Indecisive skirmishing occurs at Welaka and 
Saunders in Volusia County.* 

Forts Barrancas and Pickens were the only points in 
Florida west of the St. Johns which were held permanently 
after 1862. Six miles from Barrancas is Pensacola. The 
town was then practically under Federal guns. This nar- 
row zone of Federal territory is near the western border of 
the state. A force varying from 1,800 to 3,000 men was 
in garrison at Barrancas. The commandant was Brigadier- 
General Alexander Asboth, a native Hungarian who had 
served under Kossuth in the Hungarian Revolution of 
1848. With him were several Slav and Magyar comrades 
in arms — younger men than he — who held commissions in 
the Federal army. Three of them were popularly reputed 
to be the nephews of Louis Kossuth.^ A portion of As- 

1 Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 47, pt. i, p. i ; pt. 2, pp. 166, 392. 

2 Ibid., p. I. » Ibid., p. I. 

* Ibid., p. I. 

' N. y. Times, Nov. 26, 1864. The officers referred to as Louis Kos- 
suth's nephews were Col. L. L. Zulavszky, Maj. Ruttsiag (ist Fla. 
Union Cavalry), and Lieut. E. Zulavszky. The other Hungarians 
serving under Asboth in Florida were, Capts. Csermelyi, Gaal, Mes- 
poros, and Rombauer. 



208 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

both's force was black, recruited partly from negroes in the 
vicinity. When not engaged in the barbarous practice of 
pillaging, Asboth was an urbane, pleasant fellow with a 
great love for flowers and a keen interest in dogs and fine 
horses. He and his fellow Hungarians were hated, dreaded, 
and condemned by the country people of that section on 
the triple charge of being " furreners ", Yankees, and 
" nigger lovers ". Certainly Barrancas proved a thorn in 
the side of West Florida. From it, as from Jacksonville, 
raiders went forth to lay waste the exhausted country. 
Night and day Confederate mounted outposts, hardly out of 
cannon range, watched the trails and roads radiating from 
Pensacola and Barrancas. 

The course of military events in Central and West Flor- 
ida during the last year of the war was as follows : 

April 2, 1864. A small detachment of the 14th New 
York Cavalry engage in hand-to-hand fight with a small 
detachment of the 7th Alabama Cavalry. The Confeder- 
ate cavalry is routed, losing ten as prisoners and several 
horses. The Federal loss is three wounded and nine horses.^ 

May 24. A detachment of the 14th New York Cavalry 
advances from Barrancas toward Pensacola and meets a 
detachment of the 15th Confederate Cavalry at the Big 
Bayou. The Federal force retreats after harmless skir- 
mishing.^ 

June 25. A Confederate boat expedition sets out from 
Milton — a hamlet near Pensacola occupied by Confed- 
erate cavalry — for the Yellow river to intercept trade be- 
tween the Federal military and " Union men " (deserters). 
Two Federal schooners are surprised and captured at the 

Wff. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 385-387- Reports of Brig.- 
Gen. A. Asboth and Capt. A. Schmidt, U. S. A. 
' Ibid., pp. 398-399. Report of Brig.-Gen. A. Asboth, U. S. A. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 309 

mouth of the Yellow river. Another schooner is taken in 
East bay after a fight in which three men are killed/ 

July 21-25. General Asboth advances from Barrancas at 
the head of 1,100 men — blacks and whites. The column 
leaves Barrancas quietly at night. Its ultimate goal is 
Baldwin County, Alabama, where spies report opportunity 
to profitably raid, burn, and cut-off the small detachments 
of Confederate troops guarding the country. At day- 
break the Federal troops encounter 360 men of the 7th Ala- 
bama Cavalry at the " Fifteen Mile House " beyond Pen- 
sacola. The Confederate force takes refuge in a barricade 
called " Fort Hodgson " and after a show of resistance re- 
treats. The total loss is a few wounded on each side. News 
reaches Asboth of an overwhelming force ahead. He re- 
tires to Barrancas.^ 

July I. A Federal expedition from Fort Meyers — South 
Florida — sails for Bayport, on the west coast of Florida 
near Cedar Keys. It is composed of the 2nd U. S. Col- 
ored Infantry and the 2nd " Union " Florida Cavalry 
(white) — 240 men.' 

July 6. A Federal column of blacks and whites advances 
from Cedar Keys on the Gulf into the interior. A few 
miles from the coast it is attacked by Confederate cavalry 
and falls back to Cedar Keys with a loss of eight wounded. 

July 15-20. The Federal raiders from Bayport march 
forty miles inland, successfully beat off weak attacks by 
Confederate cavalry, plunder plantations, burn houses, and 
take or destroy cattle and cotton.* 

* Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 404-405. (Report Capt. W. B. 
Amos, C. S. A. 

* ibid., pp. 413-419. Reports of Brig.-Gen. A. Asboth (U. S. A.). 
3 Ibid., pp. 413-419. 

* Ibid., pp. 405-408. Reports of Capt. H. W. Bowers and Maj. E. C. 
Weeks, U. S. A. N. Y. Herald, Sept. 10, 1864. 



3IO RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

July 20-2p. An expedition of 400 men from the 2nd 
U. S. Colored Infantry and 2nd Florida Cavalry goes from 
Cedar Keys on Federal transports to St. Andrews bay. 
The troops land, march forty-four miles into the interior, 
burn two river bridges, one large grist mill, eighty bales of 
cotton, and a quantity of stores, and gathering-up 115 
negroes and a few horses, they return to the coast. They 
encounter no armed opposition.^ 

July 2p-ji. A Federal raiding party advances from 
Cedar Keys along the Florida railroad track. It captures 140 
bales of cotton, burns the railroad bridge over the VVassas- 
see river — thirty miles from the Gulf — and tears up the 
railroad track for a quarter of a mile.^ 

August /. A Confederate cavalry detachment visits 
" Gonzalez House " near Bayou Grand at night. Those on 
the Federal gunboats on Pensacola bay notice the " bright 
lights " in the house and they open fire. The house is 
burned.* 

August 13-14. General Asboth leads a raiding column 
1,400 strong of blacks and whites west from Barrancas 
across the Perdido river into Baldwin County, Alabama. 
Heavy rains and marshy country delay his advance. He is 
informed that 5,000 Confederate troops are in Baldwin 
County and thereupon retires to Barrancas.* 

August 2g. A strong detachment of infantry, cavalry, 
and artillery leaves Barrancas by steamer for the nearby 
town of Milton. The Federal force lands at Bayou Mu- 
latte, Escambia bay, marches to Milton, surprises the cav- 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 405-6. Report of Capt. H. W. 
Bowers, U. S. A. 

1^ ^ Ibid., p. 405. 

' Ihid., pp. 424-425. Reports of Brig.-Gen. A. Asboth, U. S. A. 

•* Ibid., pp. 426-427. Report of Brig.-Gen. A. Asboth, U. S. A. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 311 

airy guard, and captures four troopers. There is a brief 
and harmless skirmish.^ 

September i8-Octoher 4. General x\sboth leaves Barran- 
cas at the head of 700 picked mounted troops — blacks and 
whites — and several pieces of light artillery. The expe- 
dition crosses Pensacola bay and moves by Andrew Jack- 
son's old military road fifty miles to East Pass. Here the 
raiders take on supplies from their steamer Lizzie Davis, 
and then march rapidly northeast into Washington and 
Walton Counties. At daybreak, 

September 2j, they surprise the village of Eucheanna, 
plundering homes, gathering up horses and mules, and mak- 
ing prisoners of fifteen private citizens. From Eucheanna 
the raiding column heads for Jackson County. News of its 
approach reaches the town of Marianna — the county seat 
— several hours ahead of the Federal troops. Preparations 
are hastily made at Marianna for resistance. A few de- 
pleted companies of irregular Confederate troops are in 
and about the town. Old men and boys are armed with 
what weapons they can secure — shot-guns and squirrel 
rifles. A barricade is erected at the forking of the two 
pikes within the town. There about 300 old men and boys 
await the arrival of the Federal column. 

The raiders come up rapidly. They sweep aside the bar- 
ricade with artillery and follow this with a determined 
charge by the 2nd Maine Cavalry. The Confederate force 
breaks up. Some flee through the town for the Chipola 
river beyond. Some take refuge in the Episcopal church 
near the barricade and continue the fight from its windows. 
A torch is thrown against the church. It takes fire. As 
its occupants rush from the burning building they are shot 

1 Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i. v. 35, pt. i, p. 442. Report of Brig.-Gen. A. 
A.sboth, U. S. A. 



312 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

down and fall amid the gravestones of the churchyard. 
Some of the boys are burned to death in the church. At the 
bridge across the Chipola a desperate resistance beats back 
the Federal advance. Marianna is plundered. Eighty-one 
prisoners are taken/ 200 horses, 600 negroes, and 400 cattle. 
The Federal loss is thirty-nine killed and wounded. The 
Confederate loss is not recorded. That night the Federal 
column quits Marianna on its return march to Pensacola. 
The prisoners and movable booty are carried along.^ 

October 18. 200 Federal raiders from Barrancas move 
up the Escambia river seeking timber and lumber. They 
are attacked from the shore and forced to retreat with sev- 
eral wounded men.^ 

October 18. A small detachment of troops from Bar- 
rancas attacks a band of Confederate cavalry in Milton. 
The Federal force draws away with a loss of one killed and 
several wounded. The Confederate loss is not recorded.* 

October 19-25. Federal raiders operate along the shores 
of Escambia bay. They meet with no resistance and return 
with 20,000 brick. ^ 

October 25. A Federal detachment from Barrancas, 600 
strong, of blacks and whites, descends on Milton. It drives 
out the Confederate cavalry and captures nine prisoners. 

^ Concerning the prisoners, see Gov. Milton to Gen. Maury, C. S. A. 
(Mobile), Oct. 13, 1864; Oct. 17, 1864; G. T. Baltzell from Milton, 
Nov. II, 1864, Milton Papers. 

"^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 37, 443-445. Report of Gen. 
A. Asboth, U. S. A., who was severely wounded. 

» Ibid., p. 38. 

* Ibid., pp. 445-446. Reports of Brig.-Gen. J. Bailey and Col. A. B. 
Spurling, U. S. A. 

» Ibid., p. 38. 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 313 

The loss on each side is a few wounded. A small quantity 
of lumber and timber is captured/ 

January i6-2p, 1865. A force of thirty-five men from 
the Federal blockading fleet enters St. Andrews bay, lands, 
and proceeds across country to the Chattahoochee river 
with the intention of capturing or destroying the steamer 
plying from Columbus (Ga.) to Reeve's Bluff (Fla.). 
After sundry adventures the raiders fail to destroy the 
steamer, but capture fifteen prisoners, burn a corn-crib, and 
carry away forty-one slaves.^ 

February 8. A Federal column of 400 negroes and na- 
tive " Union " cavalry moves out of Cedar Keys up the 
east bank of the Suwanee river. They collect negroes, set 
fire to Confederate and state commissary stores at several 
points, and gather up horses, cattle and cotton. At Levy- 
ville they are attacked by a squad of fifteen Confederate 
cavalrymen, and lose two wounded. Captain Dickison in 
East Florida hears of the raiding, and at the head of 145 
horsemen, makes a forced march across the country to in- 
tercept the Federal troops. 

February /j. At daybreak Dickison's detachment — 145 
strong — strikes the Federal raiders — 400 strong (blacks and 
whites) — at Station Number Four. The fighting is at long 
range and lasts more than three hours. The Federal force 
abandons much of its property and retreats toward Cedar 
Keys. Its loss is five killed, eighteen wounded, and about 
forty captured. The Confederate loss is two killed and 
five wounded.^ 

1 Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 38. N. Y. Herald, Nov. 8, 1864. 
Extracts from Mobile Tribune of Oct. 28:h. The 8th Miss, were doing 
garrison duty at Milton. 

^Report Secy. Navy (U. S.), 1864-5, pp. 354-7. 

' Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 49, pt. i, pp. 40-43. Reports of Maj. E. 
C. Weeks, U. S. A. (commanding Federal column) ; Capt. J. J. Dick- 



314 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

February 20. A force of several hundred Confederate 
troops with one piece of artillery attacks Fort Meyers, 
South Florida. Nine Federal pickets are captured and one 
picket is killed. Some of the cattle of the Fort Meyers gar- 
rison are driven off/ 

February 22-2^. Federal forces from Key West and 
Fort Meyers are concentrated at Cedar Keys. A descent on 
St. Marks and possibly the interior of Florida via Talla- 
hassee is planned. 

February 28. Federal transports with nearly 1,000 
troops arrive off St. Marks bay in a dense fog. They await 
the naval force which is to assist in the operations. 

March 1-3. The fleet is mobilized off St. Marks under 
cover of a dense fog and a landing is begun. ^ 

March 4. At sunset a messenger reports at Tallahassee 
that fourteen Federal ships are off St. Marks and that 500 
men are ashore. This is the first news. St. Marks is 
twenty-five miles from Tallahassee. Frantic efforts are 
made to prepare for resistance. A few companies of regu- 
lar troops are available. They are rushed to St. Marks. 
General William Miller takes command at the front. Old 
men and boys swell the Confederate force to about 
1,500. The student cadet corps at the state seminary 
goes to the front. To reach Tallahassee from St. Marks 
bay without a long detour through the wilderness it 
is necessary to cross either the Wakulla or St. Marks 
river. Confederate troops are strung out along these 
streams to check the Federal advance. The railroad is 
watched. The bridge over the East river — between the 

ison, C. S. A. (commanding Confederate column) ; and Maj.-Gen. S. 
Jones, C. S. A. 

1 Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 49, pt. i, pp. 53-54. 'Report of Capt. Jas. 
Doyle, U. S. A. 

^Report Secy. Navy (U. S.), 1864-5, pp. 351-353- 



THE LAST YEAR'S FIGHTING 315 

village of St. Marks and the Union troops — is destroyed. 
Guards are placed opposite all fordable points on the rivers, 
and breastworks are erected opposite the Natural Bridge 
over the St. Marks. These preparations are made during 
the night of the 4th and the morning of the 5th. 

March 5. The Federal force composed of the 2nd and 
99th Colored Infantry and the 2nd Union Florida Cavalry 
(white) — 900 strong — under General Newton, moves for- 
ward slowly toward the St. Marks river. Confederate 
skirmishers retire, setting fire to property ahead of the 
Federal troops — bridges, fences, barns, a grist mill, a saw 
mill, and an iron foundry. The bridge over the St. Marks 
river is destroyed. The Federal column, guided by Union 
men, moves up the river toward the Natural Bridge — twelve 
miles away — by "an old and unfrequented road." 

March 6. Just at daybreak the Federal troops make a 
determined and spirited attempt to force the passage of the 
Natural Bridge. They become entangled in wide and deep 
sloughs and are swept by a heavy " cross fire " from the 
Confederate breastworks. With some loss in dead and 
wounded they withdraw and slowly begin their retreat 
toward the Gulf. By sunset the next day they are under 
the protection of the fleet's guns. The Federal loss in 
this engagement is twenty-one killed, eighty-nine wounded, 
and thirty-eight captured. The Confederate loss is three 
killed and twenty-two wounded.^ 

The operations about St. Marks in early March, 1865, 
culminating in the sharp fight at Natural Bridge (called 
in Florida the " Battle of Natural Bridge"), were practi- 
cally the closing conflicts of the Civil War in Florida. 

^ Off. Reds. Rehell., s. i, v. 49, pt. i. Reports of Brig.-Gen. J. Newton, 
U. S. A. (commanding Federal troops) ; Maj. E. C. Weeks, U. S. A.; 
Special Order, no. 49 (C. S. A., Dist. of Florida) ; extracts from Talla- 
hassee papers. 



3i6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

They were the last desperate and successful efforts by the 
remnant of the fighting population to beat back raiders 
from half-starved families and desolated homes, and to pro- 
tect the state capital/ 

^ Tallahassee was the only state capital in the Confederacy east of 
the Mississippi not taken by force of arms during the war. 



BOOK III 
POLITICAL RECONSTRUCTION 

" By these recent successes the reinauguration of the national au- 
thority — reconstruction — which has had a large share of thought from 
the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is 
fraught with great difficulty. Unlike a case of war between inde- 
pendent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with — 
no one man has the authority to give up the rebellion for any other 
man. We simply must begin with and mould from disorganized and 
discordant elements." — Abraham Lincoln, last public address, April ii, 
1865. 



CHAPTER XIII 
The End of the War 

The surrender of the armies of Lee and Johnston 
brought the struggle to an end. The South was crushed. 
The conflict had swept over the Confederacy like some 
hideous flood. A great state, conceived in the excitement 
of revolution, crumbled in disaster. Its blood and sinew 
had been sucked under in the maelstrom. " A war had been 
fought for four years; its scale of magnitude was unpre- 
cedented in modern times," wrote Pollard in 1866, and the 
general truth of the observation holds to-day ; " its opera- 
tions had extended from the silver thread of the Potomac 
to the black boundaries of the western deserts; its track of 
blood reached 4,000 miles; the ground of Virginia had been 
kneaded with human flesh ; its monuments of carnage, its 
spectacles of desolation, its altars of sacrifice stood from 
the wheat fields of Pennsylvania to the vales of New Mex- 
ico." ^ More than a billion dollars of property in the South 
had been literally destroyed by the conflict.^ A great 
change had taken place. Weed-choked fields, desolated gar- 
dens, charred and blasted towns, ravished homes attested the 
reality of the change. But it is not merely loss of property in 
a desolated country that clothes with eternal sadness memor- 
ies of the war. Some things cannot be thoroughly vitalized 
by even true statistics. That generation of Southern folk 

* Lost Cause, p. 726. 

* An estimate based upon the findings of the Joint Select Committee 
of Congress in 1871, H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. i, pp. 102-212. 
See figures on cost of the war, Rhodes, U. S., v. 5, p. 188. 

7jr 



320 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

had moved through the Valley of the Shadow. There are 
no statistics for such experiences. The palpable tragedy of 
violent death had befallen the family circles of the South's 
patriotic not merely twice as frequently as in times of 
peace, or three times as frequently, or even ten times, but a 
hundred times as frequently.^ Within the space of four 
years was crowded the sorrow of a century. Mourning for 
more than 250,000 dead on battle-field or on the sea or in 
military hospitals was the ghastly heritage of the war for 
the South's faithful who survived." These 250,000 came 
mostly from the courageous, positive, idealistic folk of the 
Southern States. The majority of the dead were young 
men. Thousands were mere boys. Verily, " a voice was 
heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rahel 
weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her 
children, because they were not ". 

The land lay wrapped in the peaceful languor of a 
gorgeous spring as the war-drums ceased. Many hopes 
died forever with the echo of those drums. Many strong 
men wept like children when they turned forever from 
the struggle. As in rags they journeyed homeward 
toward their veiled and stricken women they passed wearily 
among the flowers and the tender grasses of the spring. 
The panoply of nature spread serenely over the shallow 
trenches where lay the bones of unnumbered dead — sons, 
fathers, brothers, and one-time enemies of the living who 
passed. It hid the ugly scars of conflict on many a field or 
river bank or height or lonely forest road made famous by 
the blood and deathless valor of Americans. Through the 

* Compare " violent deaths " in census of i860 with estimates of 
losses in war. 

* Livermore, T. L., Numbers and Losses, pp. 1-9; Rhodes, U. S., v. 
5, pp. 186-188; Herbert in Photographic History of the Civil War, v. 
10, p. 148. 



THE END OF THE WAR 



321 



Civil War the people of the United States progressed much 
nearer a common or harmonious conception of what nation- 
alism was to mean for them. But this progress toward har- 
mony was made at heavy cost in property, in human en- 
deavor, in blood, in tears, in mental anguish, in bitter pre- 
judice long to survive. A like amount of human energy 
expended could have destroyed and rebuilt the pyramids of 
Gizeh, or dug five Panama Canals. 

War at best is a barbarous business. Among civilized 
men wars are waged avowedly to obtain a better and more 
honorable peace. How often the avowed objects are the' 
true objects is open to question. Avowedly the American 
Civil War was waged that a certain interpretation of the 
Federal Constitution might triumph. To bring about such 
a triumph atrocities were committed in the name of right, 
invading armies ravaged the land, the slave was encouraged 
to rise against his master, and he was declared to be free. 
" The end of the State is therefore peace," concluded Plato 
in his Laws — *' the peace of harmony." The gentle and 
reasonable man of to-day has not progressed much beyond 
this concept. Civilization itself probably never begot a 
single war, but many a war has tested civilization. If war 
performs any useful function, it is that of sometimes 
sounding the depths of the law — written and unwritten. 
Scientifically considered, war, like personal crime, belongs 
to the realm of social pathology, and many a worthy 
historian will no doubt endorse the verdict of the mystic, 
Emerson, that " all history is the decline of war. though 
the slow decline." Many men of to-day would, if ques- 
tioned, comment on such a conclusion unconsciously after 
the words of the Greek philosopher. " War is eternal," 
wrote Plato, " in man and the State." Most men of 
to-day, as of yore, find glory in combat, and the fearful 
dynamic energy unchained in great wars presents to them 



322 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

an alluring though ghastly spectacle. Tremendous 
changes take place rapidly, men and things are put 
to spectacular hazard, contrasts are accentuated, the com- 
mon mind is bent completely to the accomplishment of 
a common purpose at heavy cost — and through it all wind 
the seductive and traditional paths of glory. Though na- 
tions are strangled by war, nations are usually born of war, 
not peace. Though devils become popular heroes by suc- 
cess in war, hero worship in its finer sense is a cult con- 
comitant with war, not peace. The American Civil War 
strangled the Confederacy and gave rebirth to the United 
States. It brought forth a whole brood of devils and also 
revealed many a worthy hero to both sections. Seen 
through the twilight of the receding past a war is apt to 
take on a character different from the grisly truth. There- 
fore we have enlightened and eloquent contemners of 
peace. " We talk of peace and learning," said Ruskin once, 
in addressing the cadets of the Royal Military Academy at 
Woolwich, " and of peace and plenty, and of peace and 
civilization, but I found that those were not the words 
which the muse of history coupled together, that on her 
lips the words were peace and sensuality, peace and selfish- 
ness, peace and corruption, peace and death." Hence this 
man of peace glorified war after no doubt a very cursory 
examination of the muse of history. 

Florida had borne its full part in this struggle which 
strangled the Confederacy. More than 16,000 of its 
citizens had gone to war — the best men in the state. 
Approximately 15,000 had served in the Confederate 
army — 6,700 for the entire war or until disabled or killed ; 
6,400 for the last three years of war or until disabled 
or killed; and 2,000 for the last two years or less.^ More 

* These estimates are made mainly from Roberston, F. L., Soldiers 
of Florida, pp. 35-321. Col. Robertson used the Off. Reds. Rebell., 



THE END OF THE WAR 



323 



than twelve hundred had served in the Union army/ 1 he 
voting population in the state in i860 was 14,374.^ Florida 
troops served in all of the greater battles. More than 1,000 
were killed outright on the field of battle. More than 5,000 
were wounded, and many of these died of their wounds. 
Disease swept away as many as bullets. At least 5,000 
Florida soldiers were dead by the spring of '65 as a result 
of campaigning.^ Some regiments were reduced to little 
more than squads. The 2nd Infantry began in 1861 with 

company and regimental rolls, and other miscellaneous sources, to 
construct his regimental rosters and histories. 

The troops enlisted during 1861 numbered 6,762. Practically all re- 
enlisted for the war or were conscripted for the following year. The 
regiments of 1861 were as follows : ist, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Infy., with re- 
spectively 1,288. 1,270, 1,089, and 1,060 men and officers; ist Cavalry, 
905; three batteries of artillery, 331; nine "independent" or unat- 
tached companies (state militia). Most of these companies entered 
Confederate service in 1862 when the state militia was disbanded. 

1862: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Infy., 1,193, 1,032, 1,066, and 1,149 nien and 
officers respectively; 2nd (Fla.) and isth ("Confederate") Cavalry, 
1,266 and 473 strong respectively; three batteries of artillery, 295 
strong; one independent cavalry and one independent infantry com- 
pany, in all, for 1862, 6.477 (enlisted for war). 

1863-4: 9th, loth, and nth Infantry, 722, 1,220, and 460 respectively; 
5th Cavalry, 763; and ist Infantry Reserves, 331, with 8 or 10 inde- 
pendent or unattached companies of 20 or 30 men each. Total enlist- 
ments for 1863-4, 3.657. Many men enlisted during the last two years 
of war who Lad enlisted during the first two years and had been sent 
home wounded or ill. Thus there is considerable duplication. Simply 
adding up the regimental and company rasters of Confederate organi- 
zations, we find that from Florida is a total of 12,792 infantry, 3,688 
cavalry, and 626 artillery — in all 17,106. This is too high because of 
duplication; 15,000 is a very conservative estimate. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. iii, v. 4, p. 1269. Fla. furnished 1,290 three- 
year white volunteers. 

* Greeley, American Conflict, v. i; see also Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. iv, 
V. II, p. 648. 

* An estimate based on Robertson, op. eit., passim, and numerous 
references to Florida troops in Off. Reds. Rebell. 



324 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

1,274 men. Only sixty-six surrendered at Appomattox. 
The 5th Infantry began in 1861 with ahiiost eleven hun- 
dred; fifty-three laid down their arms at Appomattox — and 
so on.^ The others were dead, disabled, deserters or 
prisoners. 

The actual destruction of property within the state was 
enormous. The assessed value of real and personal prop- 
erty, exclusive of slaves, shrank from approximately $47,- 
000,000 in i860 to $25,000,000 in 1865 — a decline of 47 
per cent. Among the states east of the Mississippi, only 
South Carolina and Alabama surpassed Florida in the pro- 
portional decline of property values. In addition to this, 
the freeing of the slaves of Florida destroyed approxi- 
mately $22,000,000 in values.^ " The loss of property is 
universal," declared a citizen of Florida in summing-up the 
situation about him. 

All have suffered. Thousands have been reduced from afflu- 
ence to poverty. The loss of life, who can estimate? There 
is scarcely a Southern home that is not clad in mourning for 
some cherished member of the household. Districts of coun- 
try larger than areas of states have been rendered desolate by 
the hostile armies of invasion. The hope of Southern inde- 
pendence so fondly cherished by many has been lost forever. 
Political power and influence have passed away and the proud 
statesman of the South cannot exercise the rights of citizen- 
ship. What more could the bitterest enemy ask or desire ?" ^ 

Mr. Lincoln, soon to rest well from his arduous labors, 
referred with characteristic poise and humanity to the situ- 

' Robertson, F. L., op. cit., pp. 79, 136, etc. 

* Based upon report of Select Committee, 1871. H. Rpts., 42nd C, 
2nd s., no. 22, v. i, pp. 160-161. The proportional decline of property 
values — exclusive of slaves — was as follows : Ark., 53 per cent ; S. C, 36 
per cent; Fla., 47 per cent; Tex., 31 per cent; Miss., 30 per cent; Ga., 
23 per cent; N. C, 18 per cent; Va., 12 per cent. 

^ Letter of E. C. Cabell, of Florida, in De Bow's Review, Jan., 1866. 



THE END OF THE WAR 



325 



ation in which the nation found itself in 1865. " Neither 
party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration 
which it has already attained," he said: 

Neither anticipated that the cause of conflict might cease with 
or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked 
for an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and 
astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same 
God ; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem 
strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assist- 
ance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's 
faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The pray- 
ers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been 
answered fully. . . . 

With malice toward none; with charity for all, with firm- 
ness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 
to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds ; 
to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his 
widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all 
nations. 

When news first drifted into Florida that Lee had sur- 
rendered it was not credited. Telegraph wires were down 
in most directions and news traveled slowly and through 
devious channels.^ General Sam Jones at Tallahassee issued 
a statement to his troops telling them to pay no heed to wild 
rumors of disaster probably put in circulation by the en- 
emy.^ Then followed Johnston's surrender, and slowly the 
truth came through. " We were slow to believe it," stated 
one citizen in later years, " but finally had to accept the in- 

' Oif. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, p. 409; v. 49, pt. 2, p. 682. 

' Jones, Our Women in War-Time, chap. " Closing Scenes in Flor- 
ida." The author states that she has in her possession this statement 
of Gen. Jones to his army. 



326 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

evitable "/ Official dispatches were received from John- 
ston himself confirming rumors of what had transpired. It 
became necessary for leaders of the little army in Florida 
to prepare for the inevitable. Some advocated a continu- 
ation of hostilities in the form of guerilla warfare. But 
General Jones and those with him in policy won the troops 
over to a more reasonable point of view, and all prepared 
to lay down their arms and go home.^ 

" I was startled yesterday by a cry from one of the little 
black boys of ' Yankees ! Yankees ! ' " writes Mrs. Long, 

and I found myself running with the rest of the children to 
the front to see Gen. McCook and staff enter to take posses- 
sion of our little city [Tallahassee]. This Raw-Head-and- 
Bloody-Bones that had been threatening us for so long made 
a very modest appearance ; respecting the humiliation of our 
people by leaving his cavalry some four miles distant.' 

Brigadier-General McCook came under orders from 
Major-General J. H. Wilson to receive the surrender 
of those Confederate forces in Florida under the com- 
mand of Major-General Jones. " Upon your arrival at 
Tallahassee," read the orders, " you will take all necessary 
steps to carry into effect the terms of the convention ar- 
ranged by General Sherman and General Johnston." He 
was specially charged to seize all " agitators " and was to 
compel all editors of newspapers to publish their papers in 
the interests of peace and good order. He was to discoun- 
tenance all public meetings and to protect public property.* 

Setting out from Macon, Georgia, on May 5th with five 

1 Richardson, S. P., Lights and Shadows of Itinerant Life, p. 179. 
' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, pp. 409, 419, etc. 

* Long, Florida Breezes, pp. 380-381. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, p. 602. 



THE END OF THE WAR 327 

companies of the 2nd Indiana and 7th Loyal Kentucky 
Cavalry, McCook reached Tallahassee on the loth.^ Gen- 
eral Jones, commanding all Confederate troops in Flor- 
ida, had been for some weeks in communication with Brig- 
adier-General Vogdes (U. S. A.) at Jacksonville — first, 
concerning the Sherman-Johnston truce, and later, after 
news of Johnston's definitive surrender (April 26th), con- 
cerning terms of capitulation for his own force.^ Florida 
was included in the Federal military Department of the 
South. Vogdes was the commander in Florida, but under 
General Gillmore, who was the head of the department.^ 
Jones had formally offered to surrender on certain terms 
to Vogdes.* That officer had hesitated and sent to Gill- 
more for instructions. Meantime McCook had arrived in 
Tallahassee and the surrender was officially made to him. 
Vogdes was angry. He considered McCook's action a piece 
of uncalled-for interference. ° 

May loth, the formal surrender of Confederate forces in 
Florida began at Tallahassee. McCook then proceeded to 
St. Marks. There Fort Ward was occupied and two small 
Confederate gunboats appropriated. At noon. May 12th, 
the Union flag was raised over Fort Ward, saluted by the 
crash of cannon. At Tallahassee, on the 20th, amid cere- 

1 Off. Reds. RebelL. s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, p. 943. 

^ Ibid., s. i, V. 47, pt. 3, pp. 318-319, 409, 866. 

3 Ibid., p. 538. West Florida — that part of the state west of the 
Apalachicola river — belonged to a different military department from 
that part east of the river, until the order of June 7, 1865, when the 
state of Florida became a department with headquarters at Talla- 
hassee. It was in the Military Division of the Tennessee. Gen. A. A. 
Humphreys was in command. On June 27, Florida became part of the 
Division of the Gulf, with Gen. J. G. Foster in command. See p. 668; 
V. 49, pt. 2, p. 964. 

* Ibid., p. 409 ; v. 49, pt. 2, p. 682. 

• Ibid., pp. 322, 409, 420, 444, 485, 494. 499, 538 ; v. 49, Pt. 2, p. 932. 



328 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

mony and acclaim, the flag of the Union went up over the 
state house/ 

The parolling of Confederate soldiers was accomplished 
rapidly. The military of the Confederacy melted away. 
The armed strife was over. Four years before in this same 
little town of Tallahassee wild shouting had burst forth 
when Florida had gone out of the Union, and now thou- 
sands were turning their faces toward home, realizing that 
their cherished cause had left " naught but grief and pain 
for promised joy ". But many were not sorrowful. De- 
feat is bitter, but " hope springs eternal in the human 
breast ". Defeat had not " made ' all our sacred things 
profane ' ", wrote Pollard in 1866. " The war has left the 
South its own memories, its own heroes, its own tears, its 
own dead. Under these traditions sons will grow to man- 
hood and lessons sink deep that are learned from the lips 
of widowed mothers." ^ The war had, in fact, created a 
tremendous and glorious tradition which some even then 
were vaguely and proudly conscious of. The army life had 
hardened thousands to misfortune and misery so that they 
took a lost cause very much as they did a lost breakfast. 
And, finally, it must be borne in mind that the mass of Con- 
federate veterans were simple, poor countrymen whose 
hearts looked up at the very thought of getting home 
again. Thus, many a veteran, surrounded by misfortune, 
was probably more merry than sad. 

General McCook received the surrender in Florida of 
about 8,000 Confederate soldiers. 6,000 of them were par- 
oled at Tallahassee. The Confederate property acquired at 
the state capital consisted of some 5,000 stand of arms, 40 

^ Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, pp. 747, 949. 'Report Gen. Mc- 
Cook. Long, Florida Breezes, pp. 380-381. Jones, Our Women in JVar- 
Time — " Last Scenes in Florida." A''. Y. Times, June 16, 1865. 

* Lost Cause, p. 751. 



THE END OF THE WAR 329 

cannon, 2,000 sets of accoutrements, 10,000 rounds of ar- 
tillery ammunition, 121,000 rounds of small-arm ammuni- 
tion, 63,000 pounds of lead, 2,000 pounds of nitre, 170,000 
pounds of bacon, 300 barrels of sugar, 7,000 bushels of 
corn, 1,200 head of cattle, and a quantity of other supplies/ 
Small forces of Confederate and state troops surrendered 
and were paroled at different points within the state during 
the next month — at Baldwin, Waldo, Lake City, Tampa, 
Bayport, and Bronson.^ The terms of capitulation ex- 
tended to all troops in Florida were essentially the same as 
those of Sherman to Johnston. The officers retained their 
side arms, baggage and horses. Those privates who had 
horses were allowed to take them away.^ '' Many of the 
horses and mules were exchanged for corn and forage," 
reported McCook, " and others were loaned to citizens 
subject to the order of the Federal authorities ".■* 

The Federal army of occupation arrived in time to pre- 
vent much of the Confederate government's property in 
food and cotton being seized by the people. Over the 
South generally when it became known that the Confed- 
eracy had fallen people sought Confederate store houses. 
Mobs broke them open and appropriated the property." 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, pp. 932, 944. N. Y. Times, June 
6, 1865. 

2 Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, pp. 507, 514; v. 49, pt. 2, p. 984. 
^ Ibid., s. i, V. 49, pt. 2, p. 944. 

* Ibid., s. i, V. 47, pt. 3, pp. 444, 494. See certificate of parole, pp. 
485-486. 

' Ibid., p. 875. Gen. Jones to Gov. Allison, May 9, 1865. " So many- 
lawless people in various parts of this military district [Florida] are 
taking possession by violence of the Government property of every 
description that I have to request that you will call out such militia 
forces as is necessary in every county where there is Government 
property. Under the Military convention agreed upon by Gen. John- 
ston and Maj.-Gen. Sherman the property may be appropriated to re- 



330 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

If the average citizen thus engaged reasoned, his mental 
processes were no doubt simple — probably thus : What was 
the Confederacy's was once the property of the Southern 
people and will now become the property of a hostile gov- 
ernment; I need the food and cotton and I hate the hostile 
government and the rest of the Yankees ; therefore I will 
get what is mine while I can. Much of the tax-in-kind or 
" tithe " cotton, the property of the one-time Confederacy, 
had never passed out of the hands of the planters. Some 
people held Confederate bonds secured by cotton. Taking 
Confederate cotton presented an extra-legal method of 
making good their securities.^ " People apparently honest 
in other respects seem to think it entirely legitimate to steal 
cotton," wrote McCook from Tallahassee.^ 

Federal treasury agents were scouring the country for 
Confederate cotton. With the aid of the military these 
officials enforced the confiscation of such property.^ 5.460 
bales were seized by them in Florida during the first few 
months following the war's ending,* which at the prevailing 
market price of cotton then represented more than $800,000 
gold. " I got back to Apalachicola (Florida) in the sum- 

lieve the wants of the needy. ... In the meantime it is our duty to 
carry out the Convention in good faith and protect the public prop- 
erty," etc. See also p. 499. 

^ See case of Asa Johnston vs. Benj. D. Wright, Executor, Florida 
Reports, v. 12, pp. 478-96, for some references to this point of view. 

* Off. Reds. Rebcll., s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, p. 944. 

' Ibid., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, pp. 739, 943. " A memorandum of all cotton 
in and about Tallahassee, etc. . . . was taken with the names of claim- 
ants, where, when, and by whom stored. Also the marks on the cotton. 
As soon as the schedule can be made it will be forwarded to the War 
Department." Report of Gen. McCook. Also v. 49, pt. 2, p. 931. Also 
N. Y. Times, June 16, 1865, and Aug. i, 1865. Correspondent of 
Times refers to " quantities " of Confederate cotton at R. R. depots. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, ist S., no. 190, p. 10. 



THE END OF THE WAR 331 

mer of 1865," stated a veteran of the Confederate army. 
■ I was employed by Epping, Watson and Company as out- 
door clerk. Very soon U. S. treasury agents in their search 
for Confederate cotton became very obnoxious. There was 
much rascality. Cotton sold at a high price. Everybody 
was stealing, so I saw no harm in getting in the swim too. 
All overweight of bales we reserved for ourselves. By the 
end of the season I had seventeen bales to my credit." ^ 
Cotton buyers from the North were glad to see the Govern- 
ment dispossessed. A speculative filip was given to reviv- 
ing business. Thousands of bales in the hands of private 
owners were tediously collected at Florida seaports. In 
such an atmosphere of competition and confusion scound- 
rels found ample opportunity. Many of the newly-ap- 
pointed civil officials of the United States Government 
proved to be shameless grafters. The thievery practiced 
by them — treasury agents and marshals — became so notor- 
ious that it was openly condemned by their more honest or 
unsuccessful brother officials. Treasury agents and mar- 
shals seized property for the non-payment of taxes, and 
then sold it to themselves at prices which they wished to 

pay-' 

The Federal military took over the management of tele- 
graph lines and railroads within the state and for a time 
directed their operation.^ Repairs were made by the gov- 

* Personal interview by me with a citizen of West Florida. His 
statement of conditions was in substantial accord with testimony of 
others. 

* Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, pp. 276, 581, etc. N. Y. World, 
May 4, 1865. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, p. 581. N. Y. Times. Aug. i, 
1865. " The Jacksonville and Tallahassee and the Fernandina and 
Cedar Keys R. R. is in the hands of U. S. Marshal Remington in a pro- 
ceeding ' in re ' for confiscation. The marshal is running the train for 
the accommodation of the military and the people." 



332 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

ernment and charged to the roads/ The people of Flor- 
ida were informed by proclamation that they were at lib- 
erty to carry on their trade as usual, and to purchase sup- 
plies where they wished. Farmers were encouraged to 
bring their produce into the towns. Merchants desirous of 
opening stores were required to take the prescribed oath 
of allegiance and to conform to the sundry regulations of 
the Federal treasury department. Lawyers, physicians, and 
ministers of the Gospel were required to take the oath, and 
were counseled by the military to use their best efforts to 
bring the people back to a hearty support of the United 
States Government. " The habit of speaking of the Gen- 
eral Government as Federal," ran an order, " and placing 
it in antagonism to the so-called Confederacy, as two inde- 
pendent and recognized powers, is calculated to mislead the 
people and must be discontinued." ^ By mid-summer the 
national postal department had tri-weekly mails circulating 
over the state. ^ Actual government in Florida had come 
to be a matter for the military alone, with the paternalism 
characteristic of such rule. 

The state government soon ceased to exist. Upon the 
surrender of General Jones, Governor Allison appointed five 
commissioners to proceed to Washington for an interview 
with the President personally on the political relations of 
Florida to the Union.* He asked General Wilson for pass- 

* H. Rpts., 39th C, 2nd S., no. 34, p. 190. The Ala. and Fla. R. R. 
Co. was, at the end of 1866, $41,177.72 in debt to the U. S. 

=* Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, pp. 538, 623. 
' N. Y. Times, Aug. i, 5, 1865. 

* Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, p. 748. The commissioners were 
D. L. Yulee (ex-U. S. Senator and secession leader), J. Wayles 
Baker (ex-Confederate States Senator), M. D. Papy, H. G. Live, and 
J. G. L. Baker. Their formal object was declared to be to make 
" known to the Executive Authorities of the United States the steps 
in progress for harmonizing the government of this state with the 



THE END OF THE WAR 



333 



ports to Washington. The governor also issued a proc^.a- 
mation calHng the members of the legislature to assemble 
in extraordinary session, June 5th, and calling for an elec- 
tion of a governor on the 7th.^ 

The loyal Union element in Florida quickly showed its 
hostility to any such easy and reasonable political pro- 
cedure as this foreshadowed. " A friend from Talla- 
hassee informs me," wrote a locally prominent Union man 
to President Johnson on May 21st, "that the late acting 
rebel Governor has proposed to Gen. McCook to wheel the 
state back into the Union line just as she stands with her 
rebel officers and crew. I know this is not your policy." ^ 
Nor was it. Johnson and a dominant Northern public opin- 
ion would purge Southern governments by destroying 
them. 

General McCook, at Tallahassee, was undecided as to how 
to act toward the state government. " Shall I permit the 
Legislature to meet or request him [the Governor] to with- 
draw the call ? " he asked of General Wilson at District 
Headquarters in Macon, Ga. He sent this query on the 
same day that Governor Allison requested passports for his 
commissioners to Washington.^ The reply which came was 
summary : " You will not recognize the so-called Governor 
or any officers purporting to act under his orders. . . . 
Should they not desist from exercising their usurped power 

constitution of the United States, and of conferring generally with 
the public authorities of the Federal Government concerning our af- 
fairs." See also Executive Order and copies of various letters, 
Milton Papers, May 12, 1865. Gov. Allison addressed letters to Gov. 
Vance, of North Carolina, Gov. McGrath, of South Carolina, and 
Gov. Brown, of Georgia, notifying them of his appointing a commis- 
sion and suggesting that they follow Florida's example. 

1 Proclamation of Governor, Milton Papers, May 13, 1865. 

* Harris to Johnson, Key West, May 21, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

' Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, pp. 747-48. 



234 RECONSTRUCTION JN FLORIDA 

you will arrest them and send them under guard to this 
place." ' 

General Gillmore, in general orders of May 14th, declared 
the acts of the governors of South Carolina, Georgia, and 
Florida to be null and void and they themselves guilty of 
sundry acts of treason against the United States.^ On 
May 24th, martial law was declared by military proclama- 
tion to be the only law existing in Florida. All proceedings 
at law, or acts of the Confederate government, or of the 
government of Florida were declared null and void. Any 
person who should attempt to enforce any measure of these 
governments would, if apprehended, be tried and punished 
by military commission.'* The election of a governor and 
the meeting of the legislature were sternly forbidden by 
McCook.* Governor Allison abandoned the idea of sending 
representatives to Washington.'' Thus the commonwealth 
government as organized under the Confederacy passed 
away. However, the local officials throughout the state — 
judges, clerks, justices of the peace, and various county and 
town officers — were advised by the military commanders to 
continue for the present in office and to guard the public 
archives and other records in their possession. 

Few arrests were made by the military for political of- 
fenses. The only prominent cases in Florida were those 
of Mr. Yulee (ex-U. S. Senator), Mr. Mallory (ex-Secre- 
tary of the Confederate navy), and Governor Allison.® 

1 Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, p. 538. Milton Papers, May .6. 
1865. 

' Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, p. 498, General Order 63. 

* Itid., p. 5eer^:L2>. * Itid., p. 546. 

* Milton Papers, May 19, 1865. 

* It was generally believed that Jeff. Davis would try to escape 
through Florida. Rumors of his presence in Florida were afloat some 
weeks before his capture elsewhere. See Off. Reds. Retell., s. i, v. 49, 
pt. 2, pp. 405, 706, 715. 



THE END OF THE WAR 335 

These men had openly counseled at the end of the war loyal 
and immediate compliance with the orders of the Federal 
Government/ They were treated, however, as dangerous 
men, arrested, and imprisoned in Fort Pulaski, Georgia." 

In October, 1865, Provisional-Governor Marvin, of 
Florida, made application to the President for their par- 
don. Of Yulee he wrote: " He is President of a railroad 
company whose interests are suffering for want of his 
supervision and care " ; of Mallory : " He has the gout 
badly which the dampness of the prison exasperates "; and 
of Allison he stated : " He is not a bad man ". The Fed- 
eral Judge Advocate General was thoroughly exasperated 
with the governor's homely reasoning. "These suggestions 
for clemency," he declared, " totally ignore the criminality 
of these men." ^ 

The pasts of Yulee and Mallory were probed into by 
agents of the Federal government. On December loth, 
1865, General Asboth, at Pensacola, wrote Secretary Stan- 
ton : 

The Tallahassee correspondent of the Nciv York Herald, while 
urging upon President Johnson that the clemency already 
granted to several prominent Southern leaders be extended 
also to Mallory, Yulee and other distinguished rebel gentle- 
men of Florida, says in behalf of Mr. Mallory " that he was 
very anxious at the beginning of the war to prevent disruption 
between the people of the South and the Government of the 

1 Yulee to Merrick, May 30, 1865, Johnson Papers; Off. Reds. RebelL, 
s. i, V. 47, pt. 3, pp. 546, 581, 620, 630, 645; V. 49, pt. 2, p. 747. A^. y. 
World, Nov. 10, 1865. 

* Yulee was perhaps the worst treated of the three. His case reached 
the attention of President Johnson. See Yulee to Merrick, May 30, 
1865, Johnson Papers. 

» Rpt. of Judge Advocate General Holt, Nov. 23, 1865, Off. Reds. Re- 
bell., s. ii, V. 8, p. 862. 



33^ 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



United States, and was bitterly assailed in his own state as 
liaving prevented the capture of Fort Pickens when it might 
have been taken at any time." These statements are all false. 
While in command in West Florida I visited Tallahassee, and 
found in the State archives the most treasonable dispatches 
sent by Mallory to the Florida State Convention in January, 
1861.1 

If embittered Northern politicians could have worked 
their will, Mallory, Yulee and probably Allison would have 
been tried and executed for treason. " Atonement is yet to 
be made," stated the Judge Advocate General, " for the 
hundreds of thousands of lives." He believed that " pun- 
ishment is yet to be visited on the rebellion," and he con- 
cluded logically that " it would seem that the original con- 
spirators who excited and organized the movement should 
be first arraigned and tried. To this class Yulee and Mallory 
unquestionably belong. The experience of the world has 
shown that great crimes never have been and never can be 
repressed without punishment." ^ A calmer and juster 
policy was followed, however, and after several months of 
imprisonment Yulee, Mallory, and Allison were liberated. 

" In my intercourse with the citizens and surrendered 
soldiers of this Florida command I found only the most 
entire spirit of submission to my authority, and in a ma- 
jority of instances an apparent cheerful acquiescence to the 
present order of things," wrote General McCook from Talla- 
hassee; yet the Federal military in Florida quickly put a 
muzzle on a free expression of opinion in print or other- 
wise. Although McCook had been instrumental in destroy- 
ing the state government he declared that he " had no col- 
lision with any of the authorities except the ecclesiastical ".® 

1 Asboth to Stanton, Dec. 10, 1865, Off. Reds. RebelL, s. ii, v. 8, p. 833. 
' Ibid., p. 864. ' Ibid., s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, p. 944. 



THE END OF THE WAR 337 

While in Tallahassee he saw fit to threaten the pastor of 
the Episcopal Church with severe punishment if he did not 
pray in future for the President of the United States. Mc- 
Cook records : " I thought it my duty to Christianize him 
if possible and succeeded in convincing him of the error of 
his ways by a communication. He prayed for the President 
of the United States that afternoon." ^ It does not take 
much effort to realize the amount of internal cursing in 
such enforced praying. 

In Quincy " the little Captain issued an order that no 
rebel should preach unless he took the oath of allegiance 
and prayed for the President of the United States," records 
a certain obstreperous Baptist divine. " I was the only 
preacher then present in the town. Colonel Livingston, a 
true Methodist, came to me and advised me to take the oath 
and let us have preaching. I told him that I did not feel like 
it and did not want to do it. Saturday afternoon came 
and the Colonel called again. At last I consented and we 
went around again to the Captain's office. I informed him 
that I had come to take the oath but I would do it with a 
mental reservation." ^ 

One Southern Episcopalian in Tallahassee was sent to the 
guard-house because he had made remarks construed as 
treasonable. He complicated matters by saying that " this 
is a peace that passeth all understanding ".^ 

Government in Florida was, in fact, for the time a mili- 
tarism pure and simple — and some of the native whites got 
into trouble because they could not or would not realize the 
situation. Federal troops were distributed over the state. 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. ii, v. 8, pp. 862, 945. N. Y. Times, June 16, 
1865. 

* Richardson, S. P., Lights and Shadows of Itinerant Life, p. 183. 

* Long, Florida Breezes, p. 381. 



338 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

By the middle of June each town and village had its com- 
pany or squad of soldiers.^ The policy at first was to es- 
tablish white garrisons in Florida. " I think should it be 
necessary to garrison any of these points, it would be well to 
employ at least temporarily white troops," wrote General 
Vogdes. " It should be borne in mind that Florida presents 
many facilities both in the nature of the country and in the 
character of the inhabitants for guerilla warfare." ' 

Such a policy as the foregoing was not that put into 
actual operation. Most towns and villages had their negro 
or mixed garrisons before many weeks had passed.^ " A 
careful examination and mature consideration of all the 
information in my possession leads me to the opinion that 
sound policy requires the mixing of the kinds of troops, 
white and colored, in all the garrisons of the interior," an- 
nounced the same General Vogdes just three weeks after he 
had advised white garrisons.* Negro troops were not nec- 
essary to keep order. Their presence was meant to impress 
the native white with the thorough-going character of the 
social revolution which had been wrought.^ 

1 Off. Reds. Rebel!., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, pp. 580, 597. The 3rd and 34th 
U. S. Colored Infantry and the 17th Conn. Infy. (white) furnished 
garrisons throughout Central and East Florida by the end of May. 
At Apalachicola, Pensacola, and other point in West Florida the 82nd 
Colored Infantry and i6ist N. Y. Infy. (white) were in garrison. 
Orders were to place one company in each village and town. In some 
cases five or six companies were in a town. Gainesville and Talla- 
hassee were the most important garrisons in the interior. See v. 49, 
pt. 2, p. 867. 

2 Ibid., p. 419. Vogdes to Burger, May 6, 1865. 

'Ibid., pp. 581, 622; V. 49, pt. 2, pp. 867-868. Long, Florida Breezes, 
p. 382. 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, p. 581. Vogdes to Burger, May 
27, 1865. 

* See reference to Southern white's feeling in Richardson, ojy. cit., 
p. 179. " And last but not least we were put under martial law and 



THE END OF THE WAR 



339 



As the state government had been aboHshed, the pres- 
ence of some sort of troops was very necessary to preserve 
the public peace. ^ Federal soldiers were under strict and 
definite orders to refrain from plundering or unduly inter- 
fering with the affairs of the inhabitants.^ Most of them 
behaved well. Some were insolent. The most common of- 
fense of the negro soldier was stealing chickens and live' 
stock. ^ The commanders of Federal troops were in many 
cases eminently fair-minded men, placed in a difficult situa- 
tion, and soon longing to be out of it all and at home. 

In addition to standing for the absent majesty of the 
civil law in suppressing vagrant lawlessness, an important 
function of the Federal military soon developed in adjust- 
ing or attempting to adjust the interests of white employer 
and black employee. Emancipation became an acknowl- 

garrisoned and ruled by a company of free negroes. The little cap- 
tr.in was a man of white skin but his heart was blacker than the 
negroes that he commanded. This was the darkest shadow, or I might 
say, the darkest night that ever passed over my life." 

* Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, pp. 580, 622; v. 49, pt. 2, pp. 731, 
850. Gen. Asboth reported May 11, 1865: " On the 5th instant . . . sev- 
eral hundred citizens of West Florida would assemble at Milton with 
the intention of returning to their allegiance, and that some lawless 
parties had threatened to break-up such a meeting. I ordered Col. 
Woodman and the District Provost-Marshal to proceed with 200 men 
to that place to prevent any disturbance," etc. 

May 20th — Asboth to McCook : " The raiders made a demonstration 
against Cambellton upon Wednesday last, numbers, about 100." 

Also A^. Y. Times, Aug. i, 1865; N. Y. Tribune, Aug., 1865. 
Regulators in East Florida again reported to be active. " Victims are 
Union men and rebel deserters. One man who had been a valuable 
scout for the Union army during the war was found hung to a tree 
near Lake City." Flaridian, Nov., 1865. Violence in Jackson Co. 
Company of Federal Infantry ordered to scene to put down disturb- 
ance; N. Y. Herald, Dec. 30, 1865. 

' Off. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, p. 1075. 

* Floridian, 1866-7, passim. 



240 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

edged reality in the South with the surrender of the South- 
ern armies. General Gillmore, commanding the Depart- 
ment of the South (S. C, Ga., and Florida), issued, on 
May 14th, 1865, an "Emancipation Order", and before the 
end of the month it had gained general circulation through- 
out the District of Florida/ Many of the slaveholders in 
this state called together their negroes and told them that 
they were free. 

Some of these ex-slaveholders were slow in comprehend- 
ing the extent of the social revolution." To the planter 
with a crop in the ground the practical, immediate ques- 
tion was, how free is the one-time slave? Was there any 
lawful way of compelling the black to obey orders and 
stick by his work ? One fact soon became evident : the ex- 
masters must do none of the compelling. The Federal mili- 
tary, however, threw its influence on the side of keeping 
the negro on the plantations. In these early efforts of the 
military to adjust the labor question we have the genesis 
of the Freedmen's Bureau's labor policy and the Black 
Codes. 

None of the early orders issued by the military inter- 
fered with the right of the black to hire himself to whom- 
soever he pleased. General orders of May 24th declared 
that " no rules or regulations will be adopted interfering 
with their hiring themselves to whom they may be inclined. 
It is recommended to them to remain with their late mas- 
ters. In no case will they be allowed to remain in idleness 
at the expense of the Government. . . . Commanding offi- 
cers will see that late slaves are made acquainted with all 
their acquired rights ; will urge upon them to work for 

1 N. Y. Tribune, June 20, 1865. 

' A''. Y. Times, Aug. i, 1865. An excellent discussion of social and 
economic conditions in Florida, dated July 12. Also A'^. Y. Tribune, 
June 20, 1865. 



THE END OF THE WAR 34 1 

planters near their homes in order to secure the coming 
crop." ' 

To protect the negro, General Vogdes counseled written 
contracts between negroes and planters stating the wage 
and the work to be performed. The United States provost- 
marshal was the official charged with drawing up such con- 
tracts. " By mutual agreement among the employees," 
certain of their number (negroes) were to be chosen super- 
intendents with authority to enforce order and discipline, 
the more important cases to be referred for settlement to 
the nearest provost-marshal.^ This popular election of 
bosses was an asinine provision. In reality the United 
States provost-marshal became the temporary guardian of 
the negro. ^ 

When they learned that they were free, many thousands 
of the approximately 70,000 * Florida negroes deserted 
their homes to fiock into the Federal military camps and 
into the towns."^ Summer-time had come, "baptizing time," 
water-melon time, berry time. The weather was charm- 
ingly warm. They were free, and in truly 19th-century 
scientific spirit they sought to break with the past and to 
" test their freedom ". Responsibility lay lightly on their 
shoulders. They shed husbands, children, wives, and other 
dependents with an ease and rapidity which makes even a 
modern divorce court in comparison seem a conservative 

^ Off. Reds. Rebell., s. i, v. 47, pt. 3, p. 623. Gen. Order no. 22, May 
24, 1865. 

2 Ibid., p. 624. 

* For instance, see N. Y. Times, Aug. i, 1865. 

* Floridian during 1867 gave results of special census, 7i,66y blacks. 
'A''. Y. Tribune, June 20, 1865; A'. Y. Times, Aug. i, and June 16, 

1865; N. Y. Herald (June or July), 1865; Long, Florida Breezes, p. 
381; Jones, Our Women in War-Time ; references in Freedmcn's 
Bureau Reports, passim. 



342 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

institution. Their curiosity prompted them to seek knowl- 
edge of that boon which kind Fortune had granted them — • 
great personal freedom. 

Their presence about barracks and camps became an an- 
noying burden to the Federal authorities. " There is only 
one thing that can be done with the negroes," angrily wrote 
a certain adjutant-general lately from the North. "We have 
no provisions for them. Turn them out ; they can return to 
their former masters — or go where they please. Under the 
laws of the United States they are free men and our in- 
structions are to treat them as free men." ^ After a taste 
of freedom many of the blacks, induced probably by lack 
of food and shelter,^ returned to the plantations where they 
had been slaves. Some rhymester of the times caught the 
poetic conception of the situation : 

1 never knew the old plantation 

Was half so dear a place for me 
As when among that Yankee nation 

The robbers told me I was free; 
And when I looked around for freedom 

(We thought it something bright and fair) 
Hunger, misery, and starvation 

Was all that met us there. 
How often when we used to shiver 

All through the long cold winter night, 
I used to study 'oout my cabin, 

The hearth all red with pinewood light.^ 

The older house servants were inclined to remain at home 
where they belonged in an apologetic attitude toward " Ole 
Miss an' Ole Marster at this here carrying on ". " De 

1 Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 49, pt. 2, p. 801. 

* This seems to have been the situation generally over the South. 
For Florida, see the Freedmen's Bureau Reports and A^. Y. Tribune, 
June 20, 1865. 

» Moore, Rebell. Red., v. 8, p. 27. , 



THE END OF THE WAR 343 

Yankees might er waited till we axed 'em for freedom," 
said some in aristocratic aloofness. " Anyhow it come ter 
us; we aint gone ter it ". This was true.^ 

Although many negroes left plantations and homes and 
" celebrated " with evident show of satisfaction, there was 
at first not much offensiveness on their part. " Some fami- 
lies were disturbed by the sudden departure of their house 
servants," and agriculture was threatened, but generally the 
two races were at peace. A correspondent of the Neiv York 
Times, journeying through the state at this time, noticed 
at every railway station " large numbers of blacks — healthy, 
good-looking negroes, the larger portion females decked in 
gayest attire and in a style that would throw most ridicu- 
lous caricatures in the shade ".' At every warehouse he 
noticed " quantities of cotton ready for shipment by return 
trains, and some of it bore the ' C. S. A.' of the exploded 
Government ". He entered the fallen capital, Tallahassee, 
and " at the modest little churches ", he records, 

I noticed an assemblage of quite a number of carriages, indi- 
cating the vicinity of a rural aristocracy, and inside I listened 
to a good old-fashioned sermon and saw an assemblage of 
ladies and gentlemen. ... I learned that the planters in the 
vicinity are generally irreconciled in the new order of things 
and believe that it will be impossible to succeed by free labor. 
Cotton, they say, can never be profitably cultivated by free 
labor ; " the negroes," they say, " will not work it, and the 
whites cannot." The " negroes will prefer to cultivate corn 
and potatoes and live easy." Many are endeavoring to sell 
out, and are offering their plantations at prices which indicate 
their belief that the prosperity of the country is at an end.* 

' Long, op. cit. 

' A^. Y. Times, Aug. i, 1865, letter of July 12th. 

» A^. Y. Times, Aug. i, 1865. 



344 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The correspondent of the New York Tribune at Jackson- 
ville summarized on June 12th, 1865, the situation in Flor- 
ida as follows : 

1. There are but few persons in the state of any class who 
are not anxious that peace should continue. I do not think 
that there is an armed rebel in the state. 

2. Emancipation has been promptly, and in many cases 
cheerfully, acquiesced in. 

3. But few of the freedmen have anything like a correct 
idea of the boon of liberty, but they are very teachable. The 
influence of a Northern man is almost boundless over them. 

4. The late masters have at best the glimmering idea of the 
situation of the colored man, etc. They welcome Northern 
men among them and treat them with the utmost consideration. 

5. The present crop will not materially suffer in conse- 
quence of Emancipation. 

6. Severe flogging with the whip and paddle has not entirely 
disappeared. 

7. A few instances of shooting and other acts of violence 
have occurred, and may yet occur. 

8. The late plantation-masters generally have no ability to 
promote the social and moral elevation of the colored people, 
and they will remain in statu quo until put under other in- 
fluences. 

9. Nine-tenths of the ex-slaves are on plantations working 
for wages, and will be paid. 

10. Great changes will take place next Christmas.^ 

The foregoing is a typical moderate or conservative esti- 
mate of Southern conditions in 1865 as seen by the North. 
Two points are here worthy of particular notice: i, that 
observations on the negro should occupy such large space in 
a summary of conditions at the war's termination; 2. evi- 
dent belief that the interests of the black would suffer as 

* A''. Y. Tribune, June 20, 1865. 



THE END OF THE WAR 345 

long as the Southern white continued to exert influence 
over him. " To abandon the exercise of arbitrary power 
and adopt the appeal to reason will test the virtue of the 
best of the slave-holding aristocracy," ^ wrote another 
Northern correspondent from Florida. On the race ques- 
tion, the Northerner at that time reckoned at a low figure 
the " virtue " of the ex-master. He was apt to believe that 
the institution of slavery had distorted the Southerner's 
moral outlook. The Southerner was also logically subject 
to patronizing suspicion because he had rebelled against his 
government and might be still plotting dark treason. 
Equity and justice for the negro as well as enlightenment 
on all public questions must come from social experi- 
mentors. selfish politicians, and crack-brained theorists 
from afar. Public consciousness North in 1865 was fallow 
for the development of an exacting, revolutionary, and de- 
structive reconstruction program to be foisted on the South. 

' A'. Y. Times, Aug. i, 1865. 



CHAPTER XIV 
Political Reorganization 

The reorganization of fallen governments by presi- 
dential direction was the first phase of Reconstruction in 
the one-time states of the vanished Confederacy. The 
war had wrought profound change in the South. Bleed- 
ing, starved, burned, desolated, scarred almost beyond recog- 
nition, that section exhibited the fearful spectacle of what 
civil conflict can produce. The reconstruction of govern- 
•ment there was to involve even greater political change 
than the war had brought. The old regime was past. A 
new period was beginning in 1865. 

It is a fact not without a certain melancholy pathos that 
this inevitable rebuilding must inevitably take place in an 
atmosphere of prejudice and bitterness. Slavery had been 
destroyed, but sectionalism had not been destroyed. The 
passionate condemnation of the slaveholder by the North- 
ern moralist in 1861 had given place to a patronizing sus- 
picion of the ex-rebel by the Northern patriot in 1865. It 
is not germane to this discussion to inquire into the justice 
or soundness of such suspicion. By perfectly clear histori- 
cal process it entered into public opinion — and reconstruct- 
ing the South involved public opinion North as well as 
South. 

A powerful element in the North demanded the impos- 
sible — demanded that the " ex-rebel " be penitent. Peni- 
tence of those who had supported the Confederacy was 
somehow considered necessary as proof of their patriotism, 
346 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 



347 



and patriotism, strangely confused with loyalty. The " ex- 
rebel " was not penitent, however resolved he might have 
been to keep the peace and the law. 

Those Southern whites who belonged logically to the old 
regime found it difficult to adjust themselves quickly or 
gladly to the new. The misfortunes of the present made 
people recall with eagerness the pleasantness of the past. 
It is usually so. Hence the rapid rise of many traditions. 
Some Southerners of poetic temperament, maybe, con- 
cluded sadly that the peculiar goodness, peace, and plenty 
of Southern life had disappeared with the fall of slavery. "■ 
They turned to the recent past. Their imaginations pic- 
tured for them a fair and far-away region with broad and 
blooming fields, so rich that the rest of the world was the 
South's debtor; so peaceful that the people there were 
naively trustful of human nature and jails grew musty 
from long disuse; so beautiful that the sweetest songs of 
the nation tell of their placid expanse. They pictured these 
fields as well-tilled and ever expanding beneath the kindly 
sky, " sun-steeped at noon and in the moon nightly dew 
fed ", watched over by a wise and urbane and happy 
aristocracy and worked by contented negroes. They con- 
ceived a society where simple life and a genuine democracy 
had bound the white race together — rich and poor, regard- 
less of culture — with flexible bonds, and made of it one, 
commanding, dominant caste, proud of race — a society 
where simple faith and equitable law mitigated slavery and 
purified politics. 

Was it all a dream? The critical cynic can well say so. 
There is plenty to sneer at in such traditions, which are 
but fond memories glorified and changed by poverty and 

' See, for instance, the long letter in A'^. Y. Times, Aug. i, 1865, 
from Florida. 



348 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

sorrow. Certainly the breath of a rude change has meta- 
morphosed their Utopia into the semblance of a dream, 
yet the vision might be made a superb one, and to this day 
it supplies many a pettifogging politician South with some- 
thing beautiful to talk about which his constituents believe 
in and will not scoff at because they love it. It is almost 
a religion with them. Some say they are narrow and pro- 
vincial. Certainly they show a strong affection for the Old 
South, and this sentiment, based upon the idealization of 
things that to a stranger seem hardly worth while, exalts 
their provincialism. They love the traditions of their land 
because the traditions are theirs. The South is not unlike 
one big neighborhood. Until recently few people from the 
old world and from distant states had come there with 
other traditions. Much is still the same as in the past. The 
towns and villages are still mostly shady, quiet centers of 
wholesale barter, politics, and litigation for a riding, driv- 
ing country-side. The wooded hills which pioneer and 
slave once trod rise little changed to-day, but shrouded 
in tradition, before the eyes of their children and grand- 
children. The fields which slave and freemen cleared long be- 
fore the war still perennially fail to make folks rich, though 
tilled now only by freemen. The sun and the moon and 
the stars still look down on cotton and corn and cane and 
forests of dark green pines and rivers that wind their lonely, 
slumberous way toward the tropics and the sea. But pro- 
found change is slowly taking place. It began after the 
war with Reconstruction, and gathers momentum with the 
years. " The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 
and God fulfils himself in many ways, lest one good custom 
should corrupt the world." 

A time-honored social system has long ago been mod- 
ernized. Wage slavery and lawlessness have partly taken 
the place of chattel slavery and comparative peace. An in- 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 349 

dustrial revolution grips the section. The new South as a 
grafted limb, has sprung from the sturdy stump of the old. 
Maybe it will retain the virtues of the old tree with some of 
the faults eliminated. The change was new in 1865 and 
many believed the good old times forever dead. Some 
looked for homes across the sea, in Brazil and even in more 
distant lands. 

When the tumult of military camps passed in 1865 the 
nation entered almost automatically upon the inevitable ex- 
perience of readjustment to the revolution. This readjust- 
ment included political reconstruction South. Reconstruc- 
tion compassed before it ended the political elevation of 
the negro. Was this last fact an inevitable result of the 
war? It is the central theme, certainly, in the history of 
Reconstruction, although the negro as voter and office- 
holder played no part in the episode of presidential reor- 
ganization immediately following the war. Yet even at 
this time (1865) conditions which two years later produced 
the ugliest aspect of Reconstruction were in the making. 
The negro had powerful champions in the North (Charles 
Sumner, Salmon P. Chase, Thaddeus Stevens, etc.), who 
saw his latent possibilities as a voter. Peace had come nomi- 
nally with the disbanding of Southern armies, but reason 
had by no means displaced passion as a dominating force in 
national councils. The great principles of former years 
were no longer live issues. The Union was saved ; seces- 
sion was practically repudiated ; the negro was free. But 
to safeguard these very triumphs radical leaders were al- 
ready advising that the revolution be carried forward and 
the negro given political rights. This was the sentiment 
which, as an undercurrent, insidiously spread over the 
critical North, blighting ultimately the efforts at loyal polit- 
ical reorganization South which began when the long roll 
ceased to beat in 1865. 



350 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Mr. Johnson began his presidential career by taking-up 
the policy of Mr. Lincoln where the latter had left off. The 
Southern states were in a condition bordering on political 
and social chaos. In the midst of this confusion the admin- 
istration set about reorganizing state governments and pre- 
paring the recalcitrant commonwealths for re-entry into the 
Union. Certain leaders began vaguely to formulate plans 
for building in the South a strong wing of the Union-Re- 
publican party. With the re-establishment of Federal au- 
thority, there was a corresponding increase in the number 
of Federal offices South at the disposal of the administra- 
tion. The filling of these offices was a first step in reor- 
ganizing government. Recognition was given to party men. 

Florida was the least important Southern state for the 
seeker of votes or office-seeker, but it constituted an integral 
part of United States territory, and when in the future 
it should become once more a state in the Union its politi- 
cal possibilities were apparent. The attempt to reconstruct 
Florida during the Civil War proved a flat failure but re- 
sulted in launching there after a fashion the Union-Repub- 
lican party. 

A few hundred " loyal men " was the party's following 
in 1865. Federal office-holders were the leaders. During 
the war Florida's few Federal office-holders had quarreled 
among themselves. Soon after Mr. Johnson became Presi- 
dent this difference of opinion became more pronounced. 
Outsiders from the North offended native " loyal men " 
because they, the outsiders, received most of the govern- 
ment's favors. Mr. Chase while Secretary of the Treas- 
ury had built up a faction of special treasury agents and 
their friends. 

When Mr. Chase became Chief Justice of the United 
States he did not lose touch with his political hench- 
men because he never lost sight of the Presidency 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 



351 



for himself. He made a tour in the South during 
the late spring and early summer of 1865. In Flor- 
ida he visited Fernandina and Key West, conferred 
with his political friends, and wrote Mr. Johnson num- 
erous letters concerning the fitness of the black for the 
ballot.^ His visit caused uneasiness to the opponents of the 
treasury faction of Federal office-holders. A prominent 
figure among these opponents of Chase's influence was Har- 
rison Reed, chief postal agent of the national government 
for Florida.* Reed was destined to become Republican 
governor of Florida. He was the appointee of Montgomery 
Blair of the post-office department. He proved a steady 
supporter of Johnson and had unofficially represented Flor- 
ida at his inauguration.^ 

On June 26th Reed wrote Blair, in part, as follows : 

I wish to bespeak your immediate and earnest assistance to 
rescue Florida from the hands of Chase and Lis corrupt agents 
now holding lucrative position under the Government. His 
late visit to this state was for no other purpose than to revive 
the efforts to secure this state for his future purposes and 
against the policy of the Administration. As you know I in- 
curred his hostility and that of his corrupt tools for venturing 
to expose and arrest the plans started two years ago for the 
same purposes. On my return here a few days since I was 
made aware that it would not be safe for me to oppose Mr. 
Chase, and yesterday I was privately advised that he had made 
sure of all the patronage necessary to control the state, includ- 
ing the military governor, soon expected, and that I could 
have distinguished favor if I would cease to oppose his nefar- 
ious plans. He has advised his friends here to organize the 
colored men and prepare them to vote, and that their action 

* Chase to Johnson, May 21 and 23, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

' N. Y. Evening Express, June 14, 1865. 

' Inauguration Program, March 30, 1865, Johnson Papers. 



352 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



will be sustained by the Supreme Court — holding that there is 
no legal power to deny suffrage to any citizen. Secret organ- 
izations of blacks and non-resident whites or outsiders im- 
ported here as Treasury Agents have been commenced. These, 
however, are of little account and could do no mischief unless 
under the patronage of the Government. The intention is to 
override the resident white citizens on the plea that they are 
all disloyal. The agent who made overtures to me is a man 
sent by Chase, and one of his family associates — his vice- 
general here — is L. D. Stickney, who has drawn thousands 
from the Treasury fraudulently,' and who still holds the office 
of Tax-Commissioner, though indicted in Washington for a 
part of his frauds. Chase took him on board his revenue- 
cutter and went round the Gulf bespeaking for him the favor 
of the military authorities, and arranged to rebuild the Fer- 
nandina and Cedar Keys R. R. by military authority and then 
turn it over to Stickney for the benefit of the Ring. It will 
take $500,000 to rebuild the road, and it will be of no use to 
the Government for military purposes. But what I deem 
necessary is that you should prevent any further appointments 
of officers for the state in this interest. There is a loyal ele- 
ment here which deserves notice, but thus far every appoint- 
ment is from abroad, and with two or three exceptions all 
have been made under this corrupt dynasty. We want a mili- 
tary governor in the interests of the Administration, and not 
one who will seek to place the control of the state in the hands 
of the enemies of constitutional government. I tried to in- 
duce Randall to take the place, but failed. I am told that 
Judge Marvin, late of Key West, now of New York, would 
like the place, and believe he would be a good man. But, for 
God's sake, don't let the President send any man in Chase's 
interests.^ 

Blair turned this letter over to Johnson, scribbling on the 
back of it, " This is from a reliable source. The Chase 

^ Reed to Blair, June 26, 1865, Johnson Papers. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 353 

[faction?] he speaks of should be squelched outright. 
They are now the only disunionists and really have danger- 
ous conspiracies on foot." 

On June 9th, J. George Harris, a Federal office-holder 
at Key West, wrote President Johnson : " Chief Justice 
Chase was here — as you know — a few days ago. He as- 
sured me and others of the perfect understanding between 
you and himself — that you perfectly understood each other, 
etc. ... I could not refrain from the conviction that the 
Chief Justice was looking to the vote of Florida one of 
these days." ^ 

The military or provisional governorship was the most 
important Federal appointment which was to come in the 
near future for Florida. Several persons began at an early 
date to hang out their lines for this prize. Mr. J. George 
Harris, of Key West, who claimed to be a personal friend 
of Johnson, sent to the President a petition signed by sev- 
eral Federal office-holders of South Florida — the district 
judge, the district attorney, the collector of customs at Key 
West and others. This petition strongly endorsed Harris 
for military governor. " You cannot be more astonished 
at the letter addressed to you by Judge Boynton and others 
naming me for the military governorship than I was when 
they brought it to me," naively wrote Harris. " I assure 
you that this has been entirely unsolicited by me and yet I 
feel it my duty, etc., etc." ^ 

Another letter reached President Johnson on the gover- 
norship about the same time. It named C. L. Robinson.' 

^ Harris to Johnson, June 9, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

* Harris to Johnson, May 22, 1865, Johnson Papers. Harris was a 
native of Tennessee, where he evidently had known Johnson before 
1864. He did not get the governorship, but obtained a position in the 
Boston Navy Yard, See Harris to Johnson, Dec. 28, 1865, Johtwon 
Papers. 

* Mitchell to Johnson, July 10, 1865, Johnson Papers. 



354 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

He was an East Florida Unionist, of Northern origin, 
forced to flee from Jacksonville during the war because of 
his pronounced loyalty to the Union. His endorsement 
came from the State of Maine. Colonel Lemuel Wilson, an- 
other East Florida Unionist, was named in the newspapers 
as a possibility.^ 

The one-time supporters of the Confederacy in Florida 
were at this time politically passive. The sentiment of the 
class was more that of forced resignation to conditions 
than of voluntary and happy acquiescence in conditions. 
In sentiment practically all might be described as ex-slave- 
holders. Only a fraction had held slaves, but this fraction 
included most political, religious, and business leaders.^ 
The ex-Confederate wanted civil government re-established 
as soon as possible. He realized that reorganization would 
come from without and not within, and that his role would 
not be a commanding one at first. ^ However, when it be- 
came known that ex-Judge Marvin sought the provisional 
governorship a number of former slaveholders of Florida 
were active in his behalf. 

Marvin's candidacy was announced to the President by 
Judge Philip Eraser, of Florida and New Jersey — through 
the agency, probably, of Attorney-General Speed. Eraser 
was another Union man forced to leave the state during the 
war. To j:his gentleman Marvin wrote a letter stating that 
he would accept the ofifice of provisional governor if it were 
tendered him, but refusing to solicit it. Yet he took occa- 

* A^ Y. Times, July 22, 1865. 

* Census of i860 gave 5,152 as the number of "slaveholders" in 
Florida, supra, chap. iii. 

' Finley to Johnson, Nov. 18, 1865; Chase to Johnson, May 21, 1865, 
Johnson Papers. N. Y. Tribune, Aug. — , 1865 ; letter of Aug. 10 from 
Jacksonville in A''. Y. Times, Nov. 17, 1865. The foregoing, writh other 
more general facts, supports this generalization of Florida. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 355 

sion to state that Fraser might use the letter in any way he 
saw fit. 

In support of the Marvin candidacy the heads of the 
leading marine insurance companies of New York sent to 
Johnson a petition/ They had known Marvin by reputa- 
tion as an admiralty judge at Key West. In Florida several 
ex-slaveholders — one-time Confederates — drew up a Mar- 
vin petition, signed their names, and sending it to New 
York obtained the signed endorsement of certain well- 
known citizens : A. A. Low, George Opdyke, W. H. Grin- 
nell and others. This double petition reached Johnson.^ 
Judge Fraser and Charles A. Peabody, of New York, were 
both in communication with Attorney-General Speed con- 
cerning Marvin and the governorship. Speed transmitted 
their letters to Johnson.^ 

In order to solicit the President's attention in this ap- 
pointment, two delegations set out from Florida for Wash- 
ington. One was composed of East Florida Unionists 
pledged for the support of no particular candidate;* the 
other of ex-slaveholders, strongly in Marvin's interest.^ In 
addition to these two delegations, David S. Walker, a one- 
time Whig and slaveholder, was sent to Washington to pray 

^ Petition, July 6, 1865, Johnson Papers. Ten companies were repre- 
sented in this petition. 

* Petition, July, 5 and 6, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

3 Peabody to Speed, June 27 ; Fraser to Speed, June 29, 1865, John- 
son Papers. 

* N. Y. Times, July 22, 1865. The delega'ion was composed of C. L. 
Robinson, Jno. W. Price, Judge Fraser, Buck. Smith, Sam. McLin, 
Lemuel Wilson, Harrison Reed, Parker Moody, Sam. T. Day, and 
J. N. Johnson — all of East Florida. 

' Wood to Johnson, July 5, 1865, Johnson Papers. N. Y. Herald, 
July 10, 1865. Brooks of Apalachicola and Hopkins of Tallahassee (a 
Confederate veteran) were members of the Marvin delegation to 
W"ashington. 



356 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

for a " provisional government ". In what interest he 
stood is not clear. " The people of Florida have sent me 
to you with a memorial praying for a provisional govern- 
ment and asking for a conference on Florida affairs," he 
telegraphed Johnson from Chattanooga, Tennessee, on July 
I2th.^ " Delegation of Union men of Florida are on their 
way to Washington. We desire that action concerning the 
appointment of a military governor be deferred till our ar- 
rival," had telegraphed C. L. Robinson from Hilton Head, 
S. C, on July 3rd.' This delegation contained at least two 
men who were looking for the appointment. They were 
joined in New York by Judge Fraser, who was at that 
moment the silent agent of Marvin's interests. He slyly 
kept his peace until after Johnson had acted. ^ 

Before either Florida delegation or Walker reached 
Washington, Johnson appointed Marvin provisional gov- 
ernor — July 13th.* He was in many ways a man admirably 
fitted for the place. A jurist by profession and long train- 
ing, a scholar of no little accomplishment, a calm and delib- 
erate thinker, a man of unblemished reputation in public 
and private life, a resident of Florida for twenty-five yea; 
with intimate knowledge of the commonwealth's affairs 
from long and successful experience in the public service — 
he held the respect of the people of Florida and combined 
well those qualities necessary at that time for his work.' 

* Johnson Papers. 

* Robinson to Johnson, July 3, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

* Committee from East Florida to Johnson, July 19, 1865, Johnson 
Papers. This delegation as a body endorsed the appointment of Mar- 
vin when made. 

* An. Cyclo., 1864-65. For comment on Marvin and military gover- 
nors South see A''. Y. Herald, July 16, 1865 ; also Cox, Three Decades 
of Legislation, pp. 419-20. 

5 For resume of the public career of Marvin see Marvm to Fraser, 
Jime 27, 1865, Johnson Papers. Marvin was appointed District Judge 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 



357 



During the war he had been a Unionist. After the war he 
had the support of the leading ex-Confederates. 

Marvin came South with General Foster, the newly- 
appointed commander of the military department of Flor- 
ida. The two — civil and military heads — discussed the 
work before them, which was to be in truth reorganization 
by the co-operation of citizens, the Federal military, and 
Federal civil officials.^ One of the first official acts of the 
new governor on reaching Florida was to restore by proc- 
lamation the property which had been confiscated by the 
Confederate government, and to suspend until further 
notice the advertised sale of property which had been con- 
fiscated by the Federal government. The latter property 
United States treasury agents were preparing to sell at auc- 
tion on August 7th." The governor's order was a check to 
plunder-hunting politicians and bore heaviest on the Chase 
faction of treasury agents and their friends. 

After announcing by proclamation what his policy would 
be as the civil representative of the Federal government,^ 

by President Jackson in 1835. By some critics he was pronounced the 
first authority in America on Marine Law. See Senator Doolittle's 
speech, Cong. Globe, 39th C, ist S., (1865-6), pt. i, p. 313. 

* N. Y. Times, August 17, 1865. 

* An. Cyclo., 1864-5. All owners of property confiscated by the Fed- 
eral government who were embraced in the President's Amnesty Proc- 
lamation of May 29 or who had been specially pardoned by the Presi- 
dent were to have their property restored on filing proof of owner- 
ship with the governor. Marvin had obtained from the U. S. Attorney- 
General an order restraining the sale of confiscated property. 

A^. Y. Times, Aug. 17, 1865, letter from Florida. U. S. Marshal 
Remington had been active in confiscating in East Florida, particu- 
larly in the neighborhood of Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Fernan- 
dina. Many plantations and some town property were embraced in the 
list to be sold. See also N. Y. World, May 4, 1865. For discussion of 
confiscation in the South see Rhodes, U. S., v. 5. 

" An. Cyclo., 1864-5. 



358 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Marvin traversed the state and in speeches that were re- 
markably simple, logical, and withal forceful, he pointed 
out what he considered the necessary point of view for the 
ex-slaveholder, the necessary change in the approaching 
political reorganization, and the necessary future position 
under the law for the negro/ He preached the prompt 
acknowledgment of the abolition of slavery, the annulment 
of the secession ordinance, the repudiation of the war debt, 
and the admission of blacks as witnesses and litigants in the 
courts. To the native white he counseled an acceptance in 
good faith without question of the clear issues of the war. 
To the black he counseled the acceptance of the white man 
as political and social superior. 

" As citizens before the law the f reedmen must in all 
respects be our equals," he said at Quincy, September 5th. 
" Furthermore, persons of color must be admitted as wit- 
nesses in all courts of civil jurisdiction. . . . You keep the 
negro out of the courts and what chance has he for justice? 
And," he added significantly, '" the North is very powerful, 
even after the war, and has strength enough to enforce its 
decrees." ^ 

In his message to the constitutional convention a few 
weeks later Marvin stated that " unless the negro finds pro- 
tection in courts of justice he becomes the victim of every 
wicked, depraved, and bad man whose avarice may prompt 
him to refuse payment of just wages or whose passions may 
excite to abuse or mal-treatment." ' 

* Sen. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 26, p. 203. A^. Y. Tribune, August, 
1865, letter of Aug. loth ; TV. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865. " Gov. Marvin 
took the bull by the horns, going over ihe state and explaining to the 
people what he expected of them." For an estimate of Marvin's 
speeches see N. Y. Daily News, Oct. 27, 1865 ; A^. Y. Evening Post, Oct. 
3, 1865; and An. Cyclo., 1864-5. 

* Speech, N. Y. Evening Post, October 3, 1865. 
» See Message, A^. 7. Herald, Nov. 8, 1865. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 359 

At Marianna, speaking to the negroes, he said : 

There has been a story circulatea in Middle Florida that on 
the first day of January next the land and mules will be taken 
from your former owners and divided among you. Such a story, 
I suppose, you have all heard. Have you ? Speak out if you 
have and tell me. (" I'se hearn it! I'se hearn it!" say all.) 
Well, who told you so? (An answer: "The soldiers.") . . . 
I want you to understand me. The President will not give 
you one foot of land, nor a mule, nor a hog, nor a cow, nor 
even a knife or fork or spoon. (A voice: " Dar, ole man, you 
hear dat!") ' 

Marvin's speech-making served a useful purpose in pre- 
senting to the people of Florida the immediate and domi- 
nating points in the Reconstruction policy of the national 
government. Any important measures which a state con- 
vention might enact to adjust Florida's constitution to that 
of the restored Union must be in substantial harmony with 
the national government's program ere the state would be 
restored to the Union or relieved from the burdens of semi- 
military rule. 

Marvin was the intelligent, positive, and withal, popular 
agent of the national administration. By proclamation he 
named the loth of October as the day for the election of a 
state convention which was to " draw up a constitution Re- 
publican in form and adapted to the new order of things," 
in brief, to politically reorganize." " I have now visited the 

1 Speech at Marianna, Sept. 27. N. Y. Daily News, Oct. 27, 1865; 
also see Sen. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 26, p. 206. 

* Sen. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 26, pp. 203-5; A*'- Y- Herald, Sept. 18, 
1865. The Proclamation of Gov. Marvin, Aug. 23, 1865, stated that 
only " loyal " men could participate in the election. The qualifications 
for voting were — white male 21 years of age and upward, one year's 
residence in Florida, six months in a certain county, and subscription 
to President Johnson's Amnesty Oath or proof of special pardon by 



360 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Eastern, Western, and Middle portions of this state," wrote 
the governor, " and conversed freely with the people. There 
is a disposition among them in every part of the state to co- 
operate in the establishment of a state government. . . . 
The people have not asked me to re-establish the municipal 
authority of the courts, sheriffs, justices of the peace, etc. 
Peace and order have been preserved in the several counties 
by the provost marshals." ^ 

The registration of voters and the election to the con- 
vention were conducted by Federal military and civil offi- 
cials. All white citizens of age who subscribed before the 
proper authorities to President Johnson's Amnesty Oath 
or who possessed a special pardon from the President might 
be enrolled as voters. Registration seems to have been con- 
ducted with a reasonable amount of honesty and diligence. 
The election was fair and uneventful. The issues before 
the people were clear-cut and definite ; namely, whether the 
black should be admitted to the courts; and whether the 
war-debt of the state should be repudiated.^ The vote cast 
was less than half the normal vote of Florida five years 

the President. The Amnesty Oath could be taken, stated the Procla- 
mation, before any civil or military official of the state or Federal 
government qualified to administer oaths. The state judges of probate 
were directed to distribute poll books and appoint three inspectors of 
election in each precinct. The Federal commander of the military in 
the state would provide for the distribution of poll books through the 
hands of his soldiers. U. S. transports would touch at Cedar Keys, 
Apalachicola, Pensacola, Fernandina, St. Augustine, Manatee, Tampa, 
Enterprise, and Key West to carry delegates to the nearest possible 
point to Tallahassee. All delegates to be elected were declared in ad- 
vance by this proclamation to be pledged for the abolition of slavery. 
The proclamation called for the election of 56 members. The repre- 
senta'ion was to be by county according to population. The greatest 
number for any county was four. See also An. Cyclo.. 1864-5. 

^ Sen. Docs., 39th €., ist S., no. 26, pp. 203-6. 

»A'. Y. Herald,, Nov. 8; A^. Y. World, Nov. 3, 1865. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 361 

earlier (before the war) ^ and the men elected to the con- 
vention, with but few exceptions, had supported the Con- 
federacy." " In every instance the friends of the negro 
were defeated," wrote the Florida correspondent of the 
New York Herald. " The election as a whole was a formal 
declaration that the negro should be a social, civil and politi- 
cal outcast." 

On the 25th of October the convention assembled in 
Tallahassee to revise Florida's constitution and to formally 
acknowledge the results of the war.^ Marvin's message, 
read before the body at its opening session, presented a 
definite program and reiterated his views.* The first im- 
portant action of the convention was to declare by unani- 
mous vote that the ordinance of secession was "annulled".'"^ 
Several days later the convention reluctantly decreed by 
vote of twenty to fourteen " that neither slavery nor in- 
voluntary servitude was to exist in this state ".® There 

1 Sen. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 26, pp. 206-7. A'^. Y. World, Jan. 4, 
1866. Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule in Florida, p. 9. The number of votes 
cast was 6,707; the number of persons qualified to vote was 8,512. 

» ;V. Y. World, Nov. 3; A^. Y. Herald, Nov. 8, 1865. "Old politicians 
are laid on the shelf. Only one member of the Secession Convention 
of '61, etc. . . . Mr. E. D. Tracy, of Nassau County, elected Chairman. 
. . . He had never before occupied a prominent position in either state 
or National affairs. . . . Quite rusty on parliamentary rules and gets 
mixed up." Also see An. Cyclo., 1864-5. 

' An. Cyclo., 1864-5. 

* Sen. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 26, p. 209. N. Y. Herald, Nov. 8, 
1865. 

* A^. Y. World, Nov. 10, 1865. This action was taken Nov. 28, the 
fourth day of the session. An. Cyclo., 1864-5; Laws of Florida, Con- 
vention of 1865, Ordinance. 

^ N. Y. Times, Nov. 17, 1865. The convention was influenced in its 
action on this question by a letter from Seward to Marvin. See N. Y. 
Herald, Nov. 2, 1865. 



362 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

was not much debate over this question, although one mem- 
ber is credited with the statement that he voted for the or- 
dinance only because he had sworn to do so ; that he be- 
lieved slavery " right " and would re-establish it " to-mor- 
row " if he had the power/ 

The repudiation of the war-debt — contracted while 
Florida was out of the Union — proved to be a subject very 
difficult to adjust. The war had obviously freed the slave 
and crushed the governments founded on secession, but it 
had not necessarily destroyed the value of securities issued 
by the state while in another political system. Treasury 
notes to the amount of $1,800,000 and bonds for $300,000 
constituted the war-debt. The finance committee proposed 
to scale down the notes toward their approximate value 
when issued, and to pay at this lower figure. They advised 
paying $1 gold for every $10 in notes outstanding; and the 
payment of the bonds in full." 

Marvin counseled unqualified repudiation. The debt was 
an honest debt and there was bitter opposition to repudia- 
tion. The governor also counseled the extension of civil 
rights in the courts to the negro. These two questions — re- 
pudiation and the negro's civil rights — engrossed the atten- 
tion of the convention. Other matters were of subordinate 
interest.^ 

^ N. Y. Times. Nov. 17, 1865. 

^ N. Y. World, Nov. 17, 1865. The Finance Committee declared that 
the debt was an honest debt and should be paid. The advocates of 
repudiation claimed that to pay the debt would be to enrich a crowd 
of dishonest speculators who had bought up the notes and bonds at a 
very low figure. 

' N. Y. Herald, Nov. 19, 1865; A'. Y. Times, Aug. 25, 1865. Benj. 
Truman stated that Marvin told him that the convention was decidedly 
against admitting nf^gro testimony in the courts and that some dele- 
gates came pledged to vote against it. At several poin'.s in the state, 
political meetings had been held before the assembling of the conven- 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 303 

Some of the members were looking forward to election 
to the legislature or other political offices, and therefore 
refrained from following a very positive policy. Both re- 
pudiation of the war-debt and the extension of civil rights 
to the black encountered opposition/ Finally the conven- 
tion shifted for a time the burden of repudiation in decid- 
ing by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-one to lay the ques- 
tion of repudiation before the people in the election to fol- 
low. The voter was to mark " pay " or " no pay " on his 
ballot." By a vote of twenty-six to nineteen the negro was 
given the right to testify in all criminal and civil cases in 
which one of his color was concerned. He could sue and 
be sued in court but was not allowed to serve on juries.^ 
The ballot in the new constitution was granted by unani- 
mous vote solely to " white males ", and in a sort of obiter 
dictum the body declared its unqualified disapproval of any 
project for enfranchising the negro.* 

Matters stood thus on the eve of adjourning sine die, 
when a telegram from President Johnson to Governor 
Holden, of North Carolina, was laid before the convention. 
It urged repudiation as a prerequisite for re-admission to 
the Union. Its influence was sufficient to decide the conven- 
tion. By a vote of thirty-three to nine the war-debt was 
repudiated.^ 

tion, at which meetings resolutions were adopted on the questions of 
repudiation and the negro. For example, see Florida Times, Oct. 5, 
1865 (published by H. Reed, a Northern man), for an account of a 
meeting in Lake City of " loyal " men, that declared for repudiation of 
debt and abolition of slavery. 
» A^. Y. Times, Nov. 17, 1865. 

* A''. Y. Herald, Nov. 19, 1865. Action taken Nov. 2nd. 
« .V. Y. Herald, Nov. 23, 1865. 

* .V. Y. Times, Nov. 17, 1865. 

* A^ Y. Times, Nov. 26, 1865 ; An. Cyclo., 1864-5 ; Laws of Florida, 
Convention of '65, Ordinance no. 6, passed Nov. 6. 



364 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

On November 7th the convention adjourned/ This body 
had revised the commonwealth constitution to conform 
once more with that of the United States, had acknowl- 
edged the obvious political and social change wrought by 
the war, had granted the black the protection of the courts, 
and had clearly announced its hostility to negro enfranchise- 
ment.^ The opponents of repudiation attempted to have 
the constitution submitted to popular vote for acceptance 
or rejection. A majority was sufficiently wise to defeat the 
project. 

The convention had fully complied in essential points 
with the indirect dictates of the national administration.^ 
A minority had all along outspokenly opposed and criticised 
what was termed " Presidential dictation ", but this minor- 
ity was not sufficiently bold or sufficiently strong to mater- 
ially influence the outcome.* One observer of the Florida 
convention wrote : " In my observation of twenty-five years 
among legislative bodies it has never been my lot to witness 
an assemblage where there was so little asperity of feeling 
or excitement, or where there was manifested a deeper or 
more earnest desire for the public weal. . . . The conven- 
tion did its work fairly and squarely." ^ 

However squarely the convention might have met and 
dealt with the issues, its record is that of a body determined 
to go only so far as necessity forced it in acknowledging 
some results of the war. The constitution provided for a 

' A^. Y. Tunes, Nov. 26, 1865. 

' See interesting editorial comment, A''. Y. Times, Nov. 21, 1865. 

* See letter of Sevi^ard to Marvin, A^. Y. Herald, Nov. 2, 1865; An. 
Cyclo., 1864-5; N. Y. World, Nov. 3, 1865, editorial comment. 

* See criticism by Gen. Finley, Finley to Johnson, Nov. 18, 1865, 
Johnson Papers. 

^ N. Y. Times, Nov. 26, Dec. 25, 1865. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 365 

white man's government. The state apportionment for 
representation in the legislature was the same as under the 
slavery regime, a negro counting three-fifths of a white 
man. An ordinance adopted concerning vagrancy bound 
the black to a condition which his Northern friends defined 
as '' semi-peonage ".^ The suffrage was restricted to " free 
white male persons of 21 years or more, and none others ". 
Was this a liberal constitution? ^ Historically considered 
it zvas liberal. It did not extend the suffrage to the black, 
and became to Charles Sumner and other Radicals in the 
North 

the work of a pretended convention — a constitution which, 
after recognizing the abolition of slavery, and therefore the 
citizenship of those who were once slaves, proceeds actually to 
decree their disfranchisement; and Senators are expected to 
recognize such an instrument as a Republican form of gov- 
ernment — an instrument which begins by the denial of equality 
to nearly one-half of its citizens.^ 

The convention fixed November 29th as the day for the 
election of a legislature, governor, and members to the Fed- 
eral Congress. In this election, as in the one preceding, 
the ex-slave-holding class controlled the situation.* Only 
about 4,000 votes were cast — less than the number polled 
for delegates to the constitutional convention. '^ 14,000 
had been the voting strength of Florida in 1861. Some 

* Laws of Florida, convention of '65, ordinance no. 4, Nov. 4. 

* See comment, jV. Y. Times, Nov. 17, 1865. 

' Cong. Globe, 39th C, ist S., 1865-6, pt. i, p. 313. 

* An. Cyclo., 1864-5. ^V. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865. Benjamin Truman 
stated, " At the last election the significant thing was the fact that 
the straight-out Union candidates for Congress were defeated and 
the men elected cannot take the Test Oath," et£. 

''An. Cycle, 1864-5. 



366 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

men in Florida were still excluded from the benefits of the 
Amnesty Proclamation of May 29th; and many who could 
vote were not sufficiently interested to go to the polls. 
More than 8,000 were registered. Only one-half of those 
who could vote, therefore, had actually cast their ballots. 
The Union-Republicans of Florida exerted small influence 
on this election. 

David S. Walker, an Old-Line Whig and an ex-Confed- 
erate, was chosen governor without an opposing candidate. '^ 
Ferdinand McLeod, of West Florida, another ex-Whig, 
was elected to Congress — and it was declared at the time 
that he could not take the Federal Test Oath." The legis- 
lature was composed of ex-slaveholders and veterans of the 
Confederate army. They were good men — among the most 
substantial and reliable citizens of Florida — but the Radi- 
cals in the North condemned them. " I wish to call your 
attention to the actual state of things there" (Florida), 
said Charles Sumner before the United States Senate, 

as it is represented to me by thoroughly competent witnesses. 
[Reading] " The election has been held and, as you may ex- 
pect, rebels elected. The legislators are four-fifths rebel offi- 
cers, from Brig. Gen. Joseph Finegan down to a corporal. 
Gen. Barney has not yet obtained his pardon. The people of 

1 Wallace, Carpetbag Rule, p. 17: "The Old Whigs seem to have had 
an understanding that they would not vote for a Democrat, as they 
charged the Democrats v^rith having brought on the war, and as David 
S. Walker had been one of the most popular leaders of the Old Whig 
party he became the candidate by general consent, the Democrats 
being anxious to get back into the Union by the help of either friend 
or foe." 

" A^. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865. W. W. Kelly was chosen Lieut.-Gov. ; 
B. F. Allen, Secretary of State; J. B. Galbrai h, Attorney-General; 
L. G. Pyles, Comptroller ; C. H. Austin, Treasurer ; T. T. Long, Judge 
of Suwanee Circuit ; E. A. Putnam, Judge of East Circuit. See An. 
Cyrlo., 1864-S. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 367 

Florida are more hostile than they ever have been. They were 
surrendered too soon." ^ 

Governor Marvin's observations indicate no such danger 
as Sumner professed to see. The governor wrote to Secre- 
tary Seward : " What is very remarkable is that as a gen- 
eral rule the most zealous original secessionists accept the 
results of the war in a better spirit than the original Union 
men who got dragged into it against their will." " Benjamin 
Truman, who was in Florida during December, 1865, in 
his report on the temper of the South, declared that 

the rank and file of the disbanded Southern army — those who 
remained in at the end — are the backbone and sinew of the 
South. . . . To the disbanded regiments of the rebel army, 
both officers and men, I look with great confidence as the best 
and altogether most hopeful element of the South, the real 
basis of reconstruction and the material of worthy citizenship. 
On a thousand battlefields they have tested the invincible power 
of that Government they vainly sought to overthrow, and along 
a thousand picket-lines and under the friendly flag of truce 
they have learned that the soldiers of the Union bore them no 
hatred and shared with them the common attributes of human- 
ity Around the returned soldier of the South gathers the 
same circle of admiring friends that we see arovmd the mil- 
lions of hearthstones in our own section, and from him they 
are slowly learning the lesson of charity and brotherhood. I 
know of very few more potent influences at work in promot- 
ing real and lasting reconciliation and reconstruction than the 
influence of the returned Southern soldier.^ 

* Cong. Globe, 3Qth C, ist S., 1865-6, pt. i, p. 313. 

' Sen. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 26, pp. 203-6. 

' Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 43. Report of Truman, April 9, 
1866. Truman was in Florida from the 7th through the 20th of De- 
cember, 1865. 



368 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Governor-elect Walker was not an aggressive man, and 
in no sense an irreconcilable. He was a quiet Southern 
gentleman of Central Florida with a well-deserved popu- 
larity for his moderate views. He was experienced in 
politics, had held slaves, had openly opposed secession, and 
like thousands of other ex-Whigs, had gone with his state 
when the crisis was past in 1861. He came into office in. 
troubled times. Vindictive and ignorant politicians North 
stood ready to exaggerate into something sinister every 
trouble that might afflict the badly-demoralized South. 

Civil law in Florida was partially restored by military 
proclamation late in November. All civil officials of the 
state and localities were thereupon directed by the provi- 
sional governor to resume the functions of their offices. 
The military reserved to itself the jurisdiction of the more 
serious offenses, such as murder, rape, incendiarism, riot- 
ous assemblage, highway robbery, etc.^ On December ist, 
President Johnson restored the privilege of the writ of 
habeas corpus.'^ 

There was comparative tranquility in Florida during 
the autumn of 1865. A Southern correspondent of the 
New York Herald concluded that " there has been less 
trouble in Florida between citizens and United States sol- 
diers, and with freedmen than in any other Southern state, 
and the state of feeling is better than in any other South- 
ern state ".^ 

A survey of conditions in the South at this time supports 
this conclusion. What is the explanation? Some of the 

1 A^ Y. Times, December 25, 1865 ; A''. Y. World. Jan. 4, 1866. 

' Executive Proclamation, McPherson, History of Reconstruction, 
p. 15. Also, N. Y. Herald, Dec. i, 1865. For a disparaging view of 
the restoration of civil rule in Florida, see A'^. Y. Daily News, Dec. 
IS, 1865. 

» A^ Y. Herald, Nov. 15, 1865. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 369 

obvious causes of peace were: i, the popularity and wisdom 
of Governor Marvin; 2, the moderate counsel and course of 
the older leaders in Florida — mostly ex-Confederates;' 3, 
the absence of an urban population and many Federal office- 
holders ; 4, the course taken by the public press. The jour- 
nals of Florida had systematically taught prompt compli- 
ance with the terms of the conquering power. " Now as 
a general thing," wrote a keen and bitter observer from 
the North in Florida, 

the editors in the South are almost as disloyal and contemp- 
tible, and almost as malign and mean as the ministers of the 
Gospel. I am happy to do Florida editors justice to say that 
they are far ahead of their brothers in the South, with a few 
honorable exceptions. All over the state, with but one excep- 
tion, the editors have pursued a manly, vigorous course. They 
are loyally and patriotically at work, and their rusty little col- 
umns teem with noble sentiments. There are 10 papers in the 
state. Seven have cuts of the American flag at the head of 
the editorial columns, while no other paper in the South that 
I know of, except the Savannah Republican, has such. I called 
upon the Jacksonville papers a few days ago, and also on the 
Lake City papers. To-day I called on the editors of the Talla- 
hassee papers and found them to be fair-minded, upright men. 
They understand their position fully. . . . Really, Florida 
towers above her sister states. . . . Too much praise cannot 
be given Provisional-Governor Marvin. Florida has stepped 
forward and bravely accepted the issues of the war. . . . No- 
where in this state is seen the staggering indolence and filth 

' N. Y. Times, Aug. 17, 1865, for the opinion and advice of Yulee; 

N. Y. Daily News, 1865 (Townsend Library, Columbia Univer- 

siiy). letter of Mallory to Chas. E. Dyke (editor of Floridian), Nov. 
I, 1865; N. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865; An. Cyclo., 1864-5, resume of 
Walker's ideas; Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, chapts. 1-3; Yulee to Mer- 
rick, May 30, 1865, Johnson Papers. 



370 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

(among the freedmen) that is so painfully noticeable in Georgia 
and Alabama. ... I find more bona fide loyalty and earnest- 
ness in Florida than in any other state which I have yet visited. 
Of course at present there is very little love manifested for 
the Union or enthusiasm at the overthrow of the Confederate 
Government.^ 

As a matter of fact society was a long ways from being 
in a settled or peaceful condition. To the keen observer 
painful symptoms of social mal-adjustment were evident 
by the autumn of 1865. Hostility between blacks and 
whites was beginning to show itself.^ Many negroes were 
still roving over the country, stealing and generally refus- 
ing to work.^ Negro soldiers were garrisoned in the towns 
and villages, and more than once their presence proved un- 
fortunately exciting to the more choleric portion of the 
white population.* Wild ideas began to lay hold of the 

1 N. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865. 

- Tallahassee Floridian, 1865, passim. A gin-house was burned near 
Marianna which precipitated conflict between blacks and whites. A 
company of 7th U. S. Infantry was ordered to the place to put down 
disturbance. 

N. Y. Times, Oct. i, 1865. Frequent reports that negroes were being 
enticed on board ships in Florida waters and taken to Cuba to be sold 
as slaves, tor this reported kidnaping see Sumner's speech in U. S. 
Senate, Cong. Globe, 39th C, ist S. (1865-6), pt. i, p. 313. 

N. Y. Herald, Dec. 3, 1865. Fight between blacks and whites at a 
local election in Lake City. Negro troops in garrison attempt to stop 
the trouble and make it worse. One negro killed. 

' A''. Y. Times, Dec. 25 and 27, 1865. In his report to the Times,. 
Truman stated, " The freedmen in Florida are getting on well. Flor- 
ida had about 6o,coo colored at the outbreak of war. About 20,000 
were urged or sold into slavery during the war from neighboring 
states. As is the case everywhere there is much suffering among the 
blacks." See memoranda on number of slaves in Florida in 1861 from 
Milton Papers (no date). These gave the number at a little more 
than 51,000. Gamage to Johnson, Oct. 30, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

*N. y. Herald, November 15; A'. Y. World, November 10; A''. Y. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 371 

African's mind that the property of his late master would 
be given him on or about the first of January, 1866/ In 
some places experiments already had been made in giving 
the ballot to the black in local elections.^ Some native 
whites seemed bent on exerting undue physical control over 
the black in spite of the clear issues of the war and the 
state of public opinion North. ^ Men and women who had 

Times, December 25, October i, 1865. Carriage to Johnson, October 
30, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

Laws of Florida, Convention of 1865, Resolution No. 6, Nov. 6, 
praying the President to remove negro troops from the state that 
" good order and peace may be preserved, etc." Camage wrote to 
the President : " The freedman, I find, and especially where negro 
troops are stationed, lazy, idling, thievish, and impudent. There is 
really danger of an insurrection that would surprise you if you were 
aware of it raised principally from the secret admonitions of colored 
troops," etc. By the end of December (1865), there were only three 
regiments of Federal troops in the state — 7th White and 34th and 99th 
Colored Infantry. Benjamin Truman stated that there were "hardly 
enough troops in the state. The colored troops have been acting 
very badly." 

1 Speech of Marvin, A^ Y. Daily News, Oct. 27, 1865 ; N. Y. Times, 
Dec. 25, 1865. " Christmas will soon be here," stated Marvin, " and 
everyone of a timid mind in this section of country believes that the 
' niggers are going to clean us out,' or at least a great many think that 
there will be attempts at insurrection. ... I do not think so." 

* Chase to Johnson, May 25, 1865, Johnson Papers. " An election for 
mayor, councilmen and other officers was held (at Fernandina) . . . 
the blacks and whites voting. When I arrived I was asked to swear 
in the mayor-elect, Mr. Mot, a French gentleman of great intellectual- 
ity, etc. ... Of course I complied and had the honor of administering 
the oath of office to the first mayor of Fernandina." It was commonly 
reported that the Mr. Mot in question had been a tutor in Chase's 
family and owed his presence in Florida to a treasury appointment by 
Chase. Both he and Chase were interested in the negroes voting. 
See also N. Y. Times, July 2; N. Y. Evening Express, June 14, 1865. 

' See order of Gen. Asboth at Pensacola, N. Y. Herald, Sept. 8, 
1865. A^. y. Tribune, Aug. — , 1865, letter of Aug. 10 from Jackson- 
ville, affirming the intention of some whites to substitute a system of 



372 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

followed the fortunes of the Confederacy did not embrace 
with joy the end of their dreams in that direction. " In 
the breast of nearly every man you meet a conflict is rag- 
ing. Old ideas, old convictions, revered customs, tradi- 
tional habits and everything relating to business, social and 
civil life is uprooted and scattered." ^ 

Also, the political status of Florida in the Union was 
still undetermined. What would be the final judgment of 
the North on Reconstruction? Some people expected, no 
doubt, a broad and statesmanlike view by the victorious 
section. But a section in order to have a statesmanlike 
view must have at least a statesman whose word is heard 
and heeded. Opposition to the United States was at an end 
in the South, we know now. The South had been broken 
on the wheel. The great cause of difference had been re- 
moved. A Florida Unionist presented this idea when he de- 
clared: "Slavery, the prolific source of all our woes, is 
dead. The cause of that embittered feeling to which I have 
alluded is past; let the feelings of bitterness pass with it. 
If maintaining the institution of slavery was an offense 
deserving punishment, God knows the punishment of the 
late slaveholder is equal to the offense, however great its 
enormity." ^ 

But in spite of these sad sentiments and possible political 
difficulties, inevitable after a great civil war, the economic 
situation in Florida was improving. Business began to 

peonage for the system of slavery abolished by the war. Truman in the 
A''. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865, declared that there were " two classes of 
fanatics in regard to the negro. One would elevate the black at the 
expense of the white man. The other begrudges the black his free- 
dom and seeks to annihilate him because of his emancipation." 

* A^. Y. Tribune, Sept. 5, 1865. 

* Letter of E. C. Cabell in De Bow's Review, Jan., 1866. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 373 

" pick up " during the late summer of 1865. The cotton 
crop was abundant even with the uncertain condition of 
labor/ Much cotton that had been hidden away during 
the war came to light after the close of hostilities. This 
with the confiscated cotton of the late Confederate govern- 
ment served as a substantial initial basis for trade.* 
" Shortly after the close of hostilities in 1865 there was 
tremendous activity in the cotton business along the Chatta- 
hoochee," stated a one-time cotton clerk in Apalachicola. 
" Probably as many as 200,000 bales were shipped out of 
Apalachicola in the summer and fall of '65. ... St. 
Marks shipped 50,000 bales during the summer and fall of 
'65." ^ A filip was given business. Lumber mills were 
being repaired and rebuilt. Men began again to " get out 
timber " from Florida's forests and raft it down the creeks 
and rivers to the sea.* Merchant ships once more came and 

^ A'^. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865. Truman stated : " Agriculture is in a 
good condition. The chances are that this year's crop will be the 
largest in Florida's history. . . . Five times as much cotton has been 
raised as was calculated by commercial men North and South. Thou- 
sands of bales are piled up all along the railroad awaiting transpor- 
tation." 

* A'^. Y. Times, Aug. 17, 1865 ; Oct. i, 1865. It was estimated that 
30,000 bales of cotton were in the state at the time of the surrender. 
Since surrender (till October) more than 6,000 bales were sent from 
Jacksonville. Large cotton business was being done at Apalachicola 
and St. Marks. A Jacksonville correspondent estimated the number of 
bales in Florida at end of war at 50,000. 

' Conversation with Wm. Trimmer, of Escambia County, Florida. 
This estimate of the amount of the cotton sent from St. Marks and 
Apalachicola is too high. 

* A^. Y. Times. Aug. 17, and Oct. i, 1865. Lumber and timber were 
coming into Jacksonville in small quantities. 400,000 feet of sawed 
lumber, 1,000 sticks of timber (pine), 1,000 sticks of cedar, 1,000 bar- 
rels of tar, and 250 barrels of turpentine were shipped from Jackson- 
ville during the first four months after surrender. See also A'^. Y. 
Tribune, Sept. 5, 1865. 



374 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

went unmolested from the recently deserted harbors/ The 
owners of the depleted and disorganized railways sought 
capital for repairs and new equipment to meet the revival 
in business." Merchants brought in new stocks of goods 
from the North. ^ In Florida there were unmistakable in- 
dications of economic revival accompanying political re- 
organization. 

By the end of 1865 the blacks had become to a consid- 
erable degree the wards of the national government under 
the tutelage of United States marshals and Freedmen's 
Bureau agents. Negroes were also undergoing political in- 
struction. Their initial education in this regard was 
gleaned from the gossip of military camps,* from the con- 
versation of Northern philanthropists and politicians, from 
Freedmen's Bureau agents, and from secret societies. The 
last were potent means for organizing the negroes and de- 
veloping their latent possibilities as future electors. 

1 The blockade of Southern ports was removed by Proclamation of 
the President May 22nd, to take effect after July i, 1865. McPherson, 
History of Reconstruction, p. 9. 

* N. Y. Times, Oct. i ; Dec. 25, 1865. Says one report, " Since the 
road has been opened to Quincy the company has been compelled to 
refuse freight destined for that station, the warehouse being filled to 
the utmost capacity and the side-tracks with loaded cars, etc." 

* N. Y. Tribune, Aug., 1865, letter of Aug. 10 from Florida; iV. Y. 
Herald, Nov. 8, 1865. " Warehouses packed with cotton awaiting 
shipment of goods from the North. Those with sufficient capital are 
engaged in cotton speculation. The smaller fry are buying small 
stocks of goods and starting in business," etc. 

* N. Y. World, Nov. 10, 1865. " Gen. Grant's order disbanding 
negro troops was received with unusual satisfaction. Their presence 
has galled and irritated the whites, while they fostered insolence and 
idleness among the negroes, etc." N. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865. Truman 
wrote from Florida : " The greatest source of trouble (with the freed- 
men) is the colored soldiers. They incite the freedmen to a commis- 
sion of crime, etc." Also Gamage to Johnson, Oct. 30, 1865 ; Reed to 
Blair, June 26, 1865, Johnson Papers. For a defense of black troops, 
see Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, p. 19. 



POLITICAL REORGANIZATION 



375 



By mid-summer of '65, treasury agents and military offi- 
cials had succeeded in establishing chapters of the " Union 
League of America" at several points within Florida.' In 
October, soon after the arrival of T. W. Osborn in Florida, 
another secret political and benevolent society for blacks 
was launched — the " Lincoln Brotherhood ". Osborn was 
probably founder and head of this organization. It spread 
rapidly throughout the northern portion of the state. The 
parent group was in Tallahassee. Initiation into these 
secret societies was made sufficiently mysterious to favor- 
ably impress the black with their importance and satisfy 
his longing for some sort of hoodooism. Amid the rattle 
of gun-locks, the giving of solemn oaths, and a sufficiency 
of mumble-jumble, the candidate stood in a dim light and 
swore fealty to the Union-Republican party and the United 
States constitution.^ 

The native whites looked askance upon these societies. 
They were primarily political organizations. Their pro- 
jectors, white men from abroad, deliberately aimed at the 
political control of the state in the future by means of the 
negro vote. It did not take much perspicacity to see the 
drift of things. The Southern whites, as a class, were 

^ Chase to Johnson, May 21, 1865, Johnson Papers. " Nor do I know- 
that I have mentioned the fact that everywhere throughout the coun- 
try colored citizens are organizing Union Leagues. I found them in 
a greater or less degree of advancement in nearly every place. They 
must exert a great influence on the future of the class they represent, 
and not a little bit on the character of the states in which they exist. 
They form a power which no wise statesman will despise." This letter 
from Chase was sent from Fernandina after the writer had visited 
o'her states, and therefore referred to no one state, but Reed's letter 
to Blair (Johnson Papers, June 26) indicates that Florida was in- 
cluded. See also A'^. Y. Tribune, Sept. 5, 1865. For facts concerning 
Union Leagues in general, see Fleming, Doc. Hist. Reconst., v. 2, 
chap. 7. 

' Wallace, Carpet-hag Rule, pp. 42-43. 



276 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

positively opposed to negro enfranchisement. The secret 
societies were utilized to teach the negroes that they had 
grievances against the ex-slave-holding class. The black 
was taught that it was necessary to be independent of his 
former master ; that his former master wished to re-enslave 
him. The seeds of suspicion were planted and cultivated. 
In many cases the foregoing accusation regarding re-en- 
slavement was true. But while many might have wished 
for the old regime, few were fools enough to think that 
slavery could or would be revived. 

In arraying race against race, the record of the Lincoln 
Brotherhoods and Union Leagues was damnable and gen- 
erally at wide variance with the advice of the higher Fed- 
eral military officials, Governor Marvin, and even General 
O. O. Howard of the Freedmen's Bureau. The latter on 
his visit to Florida in October, 1865, extended to the negro 
different counsel.^ 

» N. Y. World, Nov. 17; A^. Y. Herald, Nov. 19, 1865. At Tallahassee 
Gen. Howard spoke to the freedmen in the negro Methodist Church. 
He advised them to be polite and respectful to the white people; to 
make contracts with their former masters ; and to " stick up " to those 
contracts. 



CHAPTER XV 

The Freedmen's Bureau and Public Opinion 

Unfortunately for hopes of social tranquility the Fed- 
eral government during the early autumn of 1865 definitely 
established in Florida a special tribunal for the blacks. 
This new tribunal was the Freedmen's Bureau, created by 
Federal statute of March 3rd, 1865, as a branch of the 
United States war department/ It proved to be a higher 
tribunal than any state court, when the blacks' interests 
were involved. Its original objects were three, as sug- 
gested by its full name, " Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen. 
and Abandoned Lands." ^ 

Primarily it existed for the protection of the Southern 
negro and to help that lately liberated class find itself in 
American society. The war department announced that 

the work of the Bureau will be the promotion of productive 
industry, the settlement of those so lately slaves in homes of 
their own ; the guarantee of their absolute freedom and their 
right to justice before the law as set forth in the proclama- 
tions of the President and the laws of Congress ; the dissem- 
ination of virtuous intelligence ; and to aid in permanently 
establishing peace and securing property.' 

* U. S. Statutes at Large, v. 13, pp. 507-509 1 on July 16, 1866, the 
Bureau was continued for two years and details of administration 
elaborated by statu' e, v. 14, pp. 174-79- 

' See Peirce, P. S., The Freedmen's Bureau (Un. of Iowa Studies), 
for the best account of the Bureau in the entire South. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, Circular no. 2, July 24, 1865. 

377 



378 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The negro was in need of protection when dealing with 
unscrupulous whites, Northern or Southern. He was also 
in need of some aid in earning a living under the new 
regime of freedom, mainly because that regime began with 
Southern society poverty-stricken, demoralized, and shaken 
to its very foundations. But it is very probable that state 
courts could have and would have given this aid wisely; 
and it is extremely doubtful if the Bureau in Florida ex- 
tended the desired protection and the needed aid judi- 
ciously or honestly. The institution was an arm of the 
Federal government designed in good faith to bolster up 
temporarily society in the South — particularly black society 
— amid the demoralization following the war and after the 
downfall of that much-maligned and ancient institution, 
chattel slavery. The Bureau was founded in the assump- 
tion that the Southern black unaided would not obtain jus- 
tice from the Southern white. In its operation it affords 
an example in American history of arbitrary, bureaucratic 
government from a remote center — a form of political ata- 
vism suggestive of ancient Babylonia or modern Russia. 

In September, 1865, Thomas W. Osborn, late of the 
Union army, was appointed chief assistant-commissioner 
for Florida.^ His appointment marks the official beginning 
of the Bureau's existence within the state. For three 
months previous to this date the army had been the medium 
of the national government for rendering aid to destitute 
people in Florida — blacks and whites — distributing gratis 
during these months several thousand rations.^ 

Three months after its establishment in Florida the 
Bureau was in more or less effective operation over the 
entire state. The general plan of organization comprised 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S.. no. 70, p. 79, Sept. 13, Circular no. 4. 
» Ibid., pp. 275-6. 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 379 

the distribution throughout the state of sub-commissioners 
of the Bureau, each of whom was entrusted with the super- 
vision of a " sub-district " composed of several counties 
— from two to four, according to size and accessibihty.'^ 
Each of these sub-district chiefs had subordinate to him in 
each county and principal town a " civil agent " to " attend 
to details ". Each sub-assistant commissioner was required 
to report monthly, or oftener, to state headquarters in Tal- 
lahassee, and to forward there all appeals from his deci- 
sions or those of his civil agents. Each commanding offi- 
cer of a military post was constituted, ex-officio, sub- 
assistant commissioner for the " surrounding district ", 
" which arrangement," said General Foster in June, 1866, 
" unites more completely the full benefits of military and 
Bureau administration." ^ 

The sub-assistant commissioners were all officers or 
ex-officers of the Union army. The civil agents were local 
judges, justices of the peace, discharged Federal soldiers 
or " citizens of character and influence who were willing 
to perform the duty "} 

Osborn appointed the probate judges in each county 
agents of the Bureau, and in the counties of Nassau, Co- 
lumbia, Alachua, Marion, and Jackson he called upon the 
judges to appoint in his name as civil agents the county 
clerks and justices of the peace. Governor Marvin advised 
these local officials to comply with Osborn's order by serv- 
ing. Some of them did so.* 

Here we have a suggestion of co-operation between Fed- 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 275. The state was at first 
divided into five districts. An officer from headquarters (Talla- 
hassee) traversed the state to explain to the people at large the objects 
of the Bureau. 

* Sen. Ex. Docs., 3gth C, 2nd S., no. 6, pp. 43-44, Oct., 1866. 

* Ibid., p. 44. * H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 70, pp. 86-88. 



380 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

eral officialdom and local officialdom, but like honor among 
thieves it did not extend far. Radical investigators in 
Florida from the North condemned the local civil officials 
because " their prejudices and other personal qualities " 
produced " moral incapacity " to treat the negro " with 
fairness as freeman "/ The service was unpopular with 
native whites and sometimes entailed insults and petty per- 
secutions.^ 

By June, 1866, the work of the Bureau in Florida 
was being done by the assistant commissioner and 
four staff officers at Tallahassee, thirteen sub-assistant 
commissioners located at various points in the state, six 
" civil agents ", four clerks (in Tallahassee), eight hospital 
nurses, a state surgeon and physician, a state superintendent 
of education for freedmen, and fifty-one school teachers. 
By October, 1866, the number of civil agents had been in- 
creased from six to twenty-four. Several of the civil 
agents received definite salaries from the war department. 
The others were remunerated by fees charged for services 
rendered.^ 

Thomas W. Osborn — the first chief of the Bureau in 
Florida — was a man of considerable energy and executive 
ability far above the average. He had served during the 
war as an officer in the 24th Massachusetts Infantry and 
had campaigned in Florida.* He went from the army 
into the Bureau service and retired from the latter on June 
nth, 1866, succeeded by General J. G. Foster. ° Os- 

^Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C. ist S., no. 27, pp. 128-129. Maj. C. H. 
Howard, special inspector. 
2 Ibid., 2nd S., no. 6. p. 44. 
' Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 2nd S., no. 6, p. 44. 

* A^. Y. Tribune. Dec. 29, 1863; Jan. 23, 1864; N. Y. Times. Jan. 23. 
1864. 

* Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 2nd S., no. 6, pp. 43-44. 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 38 1 

born was destined to be a powerful politician in Florida. 
As Bureau agent he made friends readily among the South- 
ern planters and at first received commendation and praise 
from the local conservative press/ 

He addressed himself at once to obtaining from the Fed- 
eral treasury department records of " abandoned and con- 
fiscated " property ; to the restoration of this property to 
rightful owners when possible and convenient; to relieving 
suffering among indigent whites and blacks by granting 
them food and medical attention; and to extending to the 
negro the paternal protection, direction, and care of the 
Bureau. 

On September 9th he announced in the newspapers of 
the state that application for the restoration of abandoned 
property should be addressed to him after obtaining from 
the commander of the nearest military post a written ap- 
proval of the claim and proof that the petitioner had sub- 
scribed to the Federal Amnesty Oath. All deeds, mort- 
gages, and other documents bearing upon the claim of 
abandoned or confiscated property in Florida were then to 
be submitted to Chief Osborn at Tallahassee.^ 

Numerous claims were in time sent to this central office 
and there settled satisfactorily.^ The treasury agents who 

1 N. Y. World, May 31, 1866. Letter from Jacksonville. iV. F. 
Times, June 25, 1866, letter of Benj. Truman, Fernandina; Florida 
Union, Feb. 3, 1866; N. Y. Daily News, Jan., 22(?), 1866 (Townsend 
Library). 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 47, 85, and 280. Sp. Ord. 
no. 5, Oct. 31, 1865. " All property in Apalachicola held by officers 
of this Bureau is restored to owners," etc. Also H. Ex. Docs., 38th 
C, 2nd S., no. 18. 

•■' H. Rpts., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 30, p. 15. Rpt. of Dec. 31, 1867, stat- 
ing that the total number of pieces of town property restored to 
owners was 26 and that the number of such pieces of property still 
held was 299. H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 70. 



382 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

had taken over abandoned and confiscated property in 1865 
were slow in relinquishing to the Bureau agents the control 
of this property.^ 

The work of the Bureau as an institution of charity and 
social control lay within certain numerous fairly distinct 
spheres of activity: namely, i, the issuing of rations to 
indigent and destitute blacks and whites; 2, the main- 
taining of an orphanage for blacks, an insane asylum, a 
hospital, and crude free medical dispensaries for the pest 
stricken ; " 3, the aiding of negro land-seekers in locating 
and homesteading tracts of Federal land;^ 4, the organ- 
izing, partly supporting and superintending of negro edu- 
cation; 5, the regulating of written contracts for labor 
between white employer and black employee; 6, the over- 
seeing of the Freedmen's savings banks in Jacksonville and 
Tallahassee; 7, the encouraging of the black to be more 
conventional in his or her marital, sexual, and parental re- 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 280-85. Bureau-agent 
Webster was sent in January, 1866, to Pensacola to take over the 
control of property from Treas. Agt. Ricks, but the titles to the prop- 
erty were not obtained from Ricks. Osborn stated that this was the 
third time that he had made such a demand, each time " for one 
reason or another" Ricks refusing lo surrender necessary descrip- 
tions of properties. Simon Conant, Bureau agent, was sent into East 
Florida in the autumn of 1865 to take over the remaining property 
seized for non-payment of Federal taxes. The Treas. agts. were ab- 
sent and the transfer not made. See provision in Federal statute, July 
16, 1866, concerning abandoned property, sections 4 and 5, U. S. Sta- 
tutes at Large, v. 14, pp. 174-9. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70; 41st C, 2nd S., no. 142, pp. 18, 
24. One Bureau hospital was maintained in Florida. The report ot 
Feb., 1870, gives force employed as two physicians and six nurses. 
653 negroes were treated in this hospital (at Magnolia) during the 
year 1868-9. 

* H. Ex. Docs.. 40th C, 2nd S.. no. 57, p. 18; also 39th C, ist S.. no. 
70. 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 383 

lations;^ 8, the furnishing to the negro of a perfectly 
free and always willing tribunal (the Bureau Courts) for 
the successful adjudication of his civil claims and penal mis- 
fortunes. The institution also educated the negro in party 
politics, but this function can hardly be considered within 
its legitimate sphere as an institution of government. 

This was the Bureau's legal scope. What was the meas- 
ure of its actual activities? 

At the close of the war the negro population of Florida 
was above 65,000 — practically all liberated slaves. Two- 
thirds of this population was segregated in the half-dozen 
cotton counties of North Central Florida." Here the 
duties of the Bureau were heaviest. 

The simplest and most direct aid which it rendered the 
inhabitants of Florida was the granting of rations. Dur- 
ing the two years following the close of the war hundreds 
of indigent blacks and whites called upon the Bureau for 
food. 92,191 rations were given gratis between June ist, 
1865, and May ist, 1866.^ It is not possible to estimate 

^ H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 108-11. See Gen. Ords. 
no. 8, Aug. II, 1865, presenting certain marriage rules for freedmen. 
Men 21 and women 18 were eligible for m.arriage. All who wished to 
marry must show evidence of not being married or of being separ- 
ated for at least three years. Churches and civil officials were allowed 
to grant permits of marriage for 50 cents each. All ministers of the 
Gospel and civil officials were authorized to solemnize marriage and 
to issue marriage certificates for $1.00. All such certificates to be sent 
to the Bureau. ^Religious organizations were empowered to dissolve 
marriages of freedmen. Elaborate rules were drawn up setting forth 
the duties of husbands to "former wives" and the rights of wives 
and children, etc. 

' See Census of 1870 (unreliable) ; H. Ex. Docs., 39th C., ist S., no. 
70. A special state census of 1867 put the number of blacks at 71,665. 
Population increased from immigration during 1866. See Floridian 
during 1867; also Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. ii, p. 301. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 275-6; N. Y. Times, June 
13, 1866, Gen. Steedman's Report. 



384 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

accurately the extent of this aid. General Howard reported 
in March, 1867, that 500 destitute whites and 1,000 blacks 
were dependent for a living for five or six months of the 
year upon the Bureau. He estimated that 45,000 rations 
per month were called for.^ A ration was estimated to 
cost twenty-five cents. 

The Federal government paid for the supplies through 
the Bureau. The funds came either in direct Federal ap- 
propriation or from the sale and rent of abandoned and 
confiscated property. The total expenditure by the Flor- 
ida Bureau in Florida from November ist, 1865, to Novem- 
ber ist, 1866, was $15,589.62. Its income for these twelve 
months was $18,949.00.^ 1866 was its busiest year. There- 
fore we can conclude that the total expenditure of this insti- 
tution among Florida's 70,000 negroes and few hundred 
helpless whites was not large. 

It rendered good service in filling hungry stomachs, in 
caring for a few orphans, sick people and insane ; and in 
ministering unto the pest-stricken. A negro orphanage 
was maintained at Fernandina in the confiscated home of 
General Finegan.^ A hospital with a staff of several physi- 
cians and nurses was established near Jacksonville.* Pest 
houses were kept up in various towns and villages of the 
state. Small-pox was raging in localities among negroes 
during 1865-66. The Bureau by a systematic campaign of 

' Sen. Ex. Docs., 40th C, ist S., no. i, p. 2. 

* Sen. Ex. Docs.. 39th C, 2nd S., no. 6, p. 47. 

* Ibid., p. 47; Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 27, p. no. The 
orphan asylum at Fernandina is spoken of as " a lovely spectacle of 
genuine philanthropy." 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39lh €., ist S., no. 70, p. 47. At Magnolia, 20 miles 
above Jacksonville, on the St. Johns river. The hospital was estab- 
lished in March, 1866; H. Ex. Docs., 41st C, 2nd S., no. 142, pp. 18, 24. 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 385 

vaccination against the disease rendered a good service to 
society. 

At a few points in the state small primary schools for 
negroes had been established before the Bureau entered 
Florida. In Fernandina and Jacksonville negro schools 
vv^ere opened during the war.^ Florida was less advanced in 
educating the negro than most other Southern states. This 
lack of progress did not disturb the Southern white. Even 
the enlightened planters did not welcome academic ideas 
from the proselyting, patronizing newcomer from the North 
or the politically-minded negro preacher. 

In Tallahassee the Bureau inspector of freedmen's 
schools reported on January ist, 1866, that he had found five 
negro schools gathered together and taught by negro 
preachers. He reported also a school of " interesting 
girls " at the same place taught by a " Mulatto woman of 
education " who said to him, " I intend to make ladies of 
these girls ".^ The American institution of learning is in 
truth capable of a great deal. 

Small negro schools were at the same time in operation 
in Fernandina, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Lake City, and 
Gainesville. Some white women of Fernandina conducted 
a " sewing school " for blacks and a negro orphan asylum 
which by January, 1866, had fifty-five inmates.^ Thus it is 

1 Moore, Rebel!. Red., v. 6, p. 61. N. Y. Tribune, Aug. 17, 1864; A''. 
Y. Times, Jan. 23, 1864. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 337. J. W. Alvord was the 
inspector of schools. His report is dated Jan. i, 1866. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 276. Fernandina had two 
negro schools, 330 pupils, and five teachers ; St. Augustine, two schools, 
250 pupils, and four teachers ; Jacksonville, three schools, 530 pupils, 
and four teachers; Lake City, one school, 310 pupils, and two teachers; 
Tallahassee, one school, 208 pupils, and two teachers. This made a 
total of 10 schools, 1,918 pupils, and 21 teachers, reported Dec. 31, 
1865. 



^86 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

seen that educational and cha -itable work among Florida's 
blacks had already begun before the Bureau was fairly es- 
tablished. One of the first things which it accomplished 
was the organization over the state of numerous schools 
for blacks supported partly by local contributions, partly 
by the state, partly by Northern charity,^ and partly by 
Federal funds. 

In October, 1865, General Foster, commanding the mili- 
tary department of Florida, appointed Chaplain H. H. 
Moore (white), of the 34th United States Colored In- 
fantry, state superintendent of education for Freedmen.^ 
Assistant-Commissioner Osborn immediately directed all 
sub-assistant commissioners of the Bureau to report to 
Moore as soon as possible the number of negro children 
between five and fifteen in their respective districts; the 
number and character of the schools already established; 
the school-house accommodations; the means for boarding 
and lodging teachers ; the disposition of the whites toward 
negro schools ; the ability and willingness of the people, 
black and white, to pay teachers, etc. — in fact all reason- 
able information germane to the question of wisely estab- 
lishing negro schools.' 

The Bureau's educational efforts produced some results. 
By the end of January, 1866, 21 black schools were reported 
at 14 points employing 33 teachers and enrolling 1,868 
pupils of all ages.* Six months later 38 schools were re- 

' Philanthropic work among the negroes in the South Atlantic states 
(the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida) was carried on by the following 
organizations : American Alissionary Assn., Boston Educational Com- 
mission, Freedmen's Relief Assn. of N. Y., American Tract Society 
of Boston, and Educational Societies founded in Philadelphia, Chi- 
cago, and Cincinnati. See H. Rpts., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 30, pp. 20-22. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. yo, p. 85. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 85, Circular no. 7. 

* Ibid., pp. 283-4. The distribution was as follows : St. Augustine, 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 387 

ported employing 51 teachers and enrolling 2,662 pupils. 
Twenty of these 38 schools were state institutions. Twenty- 
nine of the 51 teachers were sustained by the New York 
branch of the Society for the Protection of the Freedmen.^ 
The Bureau directed and controlled this educational work 
— state, Federal, and private. 

The state legislature on January nth, 1866, provided by 
law for a negro school system of its own.^ By October, 
1866, twenty-five common schools for blacks had been 
established by the state. L. M. Hobbs, an ex-chaplain of 
the 3rd Colored Infantry and Federal provost-marshal 
at Tallahassee, was appointed by Governor Walker state 
superintendent of negro schools.* Hobbs's successor — an- 
other ex-chaplain of the Union army — became superin- 
tendent of Bureau schools; and in this way was the direc- 
tion of the two systems — Bureau and state — linked to- 
gether.* Gradually the Bureau schools were absorbed into 

two schools, four teachers, 150 pupils; Fernandina, three schools, six 
teachers, 280 pupils; Jacksonville, three schools, six teachers, 240 
pupils ; Colony, one school, one teacher, 28 pupils ; Lake City, one 
school, two teachers, 300 pupils ; Gainesville, one school, two teachers, 
280 pupils; Palatka, one school, one teacher, 85 pupils; Marianna, 
one school, one teacher, 80 pupils; Pensacola, one school, one teacher, 
75 pupils; Lieut. Cessna's Plantation, one school, one teacher, 20 
pupils; Belle Air (near Tallahassee), one school, one teacher, 40 
pupils; Midway, one school, one teacher, 20 pupils; Plantation near 
Tallahassee, one school, one teacher, 30 pupils; Tallahassee, three 
schools, five teachers, 240 pupils. 

^H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70. 

' Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, chap. 1475. 

3 TV. Y. Evening Post, March 16, 1866, Hobbs' letter; N. Y. World, 
April 21, 1866, Tallahassee letter; H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, p. 
8, testimony of Hobbs before the Reconstruction Commit'. ee in Wash- 
ington, Feb. 28, 1866. 

*E. B. Duncan, H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 46. 



388 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

the state system, although the Bureau was the paramount 
authority during the period of miHtary rule, 1866-68/ 

The state levied a poll tax of $1 on every adult male 
negro for the support of negro schools. Few paid the tax — 
some failing because they could not pay, and many because 
they would not. The total amount of taxes assessed by 
the state on negroes during 1866 was only $22,935. $7,- 
828 of this amount was the poll tax for common schools, 
and only a fraction of it was ever collected. During the 
year 1866 the state government issued warrants to the 
amount of $2,792.88 for the payment of teachers in negro 
schools.^ These warrants were paid out of general reve- 
nue. The fraction of the negro school tax actually paid 
was turned in by planters for their workmen. 

Experience demonstrated that negroes were not dis- 
posed to have their names recorded on the tax rolls, even 
for purposes of their own education. Paying taxes was a 
process which they neither understood nor appreciated. 
Many had no money to pay when called upon. More en- 
lightened people do not readily pay taxes — particularly poll 
taxes — for that which they think they will obtain without 
paying. With Florida negroes tax paying was discour- 
aged because /' restless agitators now told them," stated 
Comptroller Beard, in 1867, " that the state is without such 
government as they are bound to respect, that it is an 
illegal concern having no legitimate powers." ' 

^ In February, 1870, ^2 Bureau schools were reported employing 39 
teachers and enrolling 1,507 pupils; also 20 Sunday-schools with 55 
teachers and 1,168 pupils, H. Ex. Docs., 41st C, 2nd S., no. 142, p. 24. 
At this time the number of negro pupils enrolled in state schools was 
about 3,000. See An. Cyclo., 1870-71; Herbert, Why the Solid South? 
p. 167. 

2 Rpt. State Comptroller Beard, Aug. 5, 1867. 

* Rpt. State Compt. Beard, Aug. 5, 1867. See also Floridian, Aug. 
•9, June 14, July 16, 1867. 



THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 389 

For five years the Bureau continued to oversee negro 
schools and to act as the agent for steadily decreasing 
Northern charity. The teachers in negro schools were 
both blacks and whites/ The latter were generally social 
outcasts. From the larger plantations came applications 
for teachers.^ Osborn reported early in 1866 that in Flor- 
ida negro schools " were flourishing ", that there was some 
opposition by whites to their establishment, and that the 
great need was teachers.^ L. M. Hobbs, superintendent of 
negro schools, wrote in March, 1866: 

There is great demand for schools on plantations, not only by 
freedmen but by former masters. They say that it is as much 
to their interest as to the freedmen's that the freedmen be 
educated ; that as free laborers they will do better by being 
able to read and write and will be more contented if they can 
have schools on their plantations. Many planters have offered 
to pay one-half the expenses of schools if they are successful 
in raising cotton this year.* 

Thousands of ex-slaves wished " book-learning " and 
strove for a little while to acquire it. They labored with an 
eagerness and hopefulness and helplessness, usually, not 
without pathos. The Southern whites interpreted the ne- 
groes' efforts as but a passing spasm of curiosity founded 
upon a desire to ape the more enlightened whites and to test 
freedom somehow by piercing the mysteries of the printed 

^ Atnerican Freedman, Oct., 1866. Article on Southern Education. 
See also various reports of Freedmen's Bureau in Florida. 

^ H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 284; A''. Y. Evening Post, 
March 16, 1866. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70. 

* N. Y. Evening Post, March 16, 1866, le'ter from Hobbs to Pres. 
Shaw of N. Y. Freedmen's Relief Assn. Also personal conversation 
of the author with ex-Gov. Bloxham in Tallahassee. 



390 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

page. The Southern whites did not take the matter very 
seriously/ The more ignorant they were the more they re- 
sented the blacks' mad search after the alphabet. 

Strangers in the land — from the North — were heavily 
impressed with what they saw. Many of them made hasty, 
optimistic and thoroughly asinine or dishonest generaliza- 
tions and prophecies about the bright cultural outlook for 
the negro. Such optimism continues to this day. The black 
was described to doting enthusiasts North as a man of un- 
common parts — with acquisitive and reasoning faculties far 
above the Southern white, and with an enthusiasm for 
learning, probably unparalleled in the history of the human 
race. " The great movement is among the children of the 
usual school age," declared one admirer. 

Their parents, if at all intelligent, encourage them to study. 
Your officers [U. S.] add their influence, and it is a fact not 
always true of children that, among those recently from bond- 
age, a school-house, however rough and uncomfortable, is of 
all places the most attractive. A very common punishment 
for misdemeanors is the threat of being kept home from school. 
The threat is, in most cases, sufficient,^ 

A Federal treasury agent in Florida found " the colored 
children evincing a spirit and disposition to learn " that he 
had never witnessed " even in the white schools of the 
North; and not only evincing the disposition, but actually 
learning. That is something that has impressed me most 
profoundly everywhere in the South." ^ 

An interesting and for several years favorable aspect of 

' Radicals testifying before the Reconstruction Committee or writing 
home exaggerated the bitterness of the Southern white. For ins'ance, 
see the testimony of Ricks and Hobbs, H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30. 

' Ibid., pp. 22-23. 

* H. Rfits., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, p. 2, testimony of J. W. Ricks. 



THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 



391 



the national government's influence on the blacks of Flor- 
ida is furnished by the career of the Freedmen's Savings 
Bank. When the negro became a considerable element in 
the Federal army during the Civil War the safe-keeping of 
the pay and bounty money of this class became a matter of 
philanthropic concern to Northern negrophiles. Why ex- 
isting Caucasian banks could not minister unto the negro 
it is difficult to understand. At any rate to meet the sup- 
posed exigency military savings banks were created at 
Norfolk, Va., and Beaufort, S. C, which were centers of 
mobilization at that time for negro troops.^ 

The close of the war and the consequent emancipation 
of the negro increased and made more actual the necessity 
of some reliable agency to meet the black's financial and 
social wants. In response to this demand Congress incor- 
porated in March, 1865, the Freedmen's Savings Bank and 
Trust Company, a sort of financial supplement of the 
Freedmen's Bureau.^ 

The institution was designed to perform for a particular 
class — a desperately poor and ignorant class — the import- 
ant function of a savings bank. Its purpose was declared 
to be " to receive on deposit such sums of money as may 
from time to time be offered therefor by or on behalf of 
persons heretofore held in slavery in the United States, 
or their descendants, and to invest the same in the stocks, 
bonds and treasury notes or other securities of the United 
States." ' 

Branches of the bank were established during March, 
1866, in Jacksonville, and during the following August in 
Tallahassee.^ Deposits from $1 up were received. At- 

' Sen. Rpts., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 440, pp. 1-2. 

' Statutes at Large, v. 13, pp. 510-513, March 3, 1865. » Sec. 5. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 43rd C, 2nd S., no. 16, p. 85. W. L. Coan was 
Bank Manager in Jacksonville, and Wm. Steward in Tallahassee. 



392 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tractive bank books were issued to negro depositors and 
the Bureau agents encouraged the blacks to put their sur- 
plus earnings in the bank/ The Florida branches were soon 
doing a general banking business — making loans on various 
sorts of notes, on cotton, lumber and even real estate. 

Some of the men associated in the local management of 
the institution in Florida were unmitigated scoundrels,^ 
but this fact did not prevent it from doing a useful work 
in the state among the negroes. Colonel Sprague reported 
to General Howard on October ist, 1867, that the two 
Florida branches were in a " flourishing condition " 
and that the rental of buildings occupied by both branches 
was " paid by the Bureau in compliance with orders ".^ The 
bank was in reality a part of the Bureau's system. Two 
and a half years later, 1870, the Congressional committee 
investigating General Howard reported that the influence of 
the bank on the black was " very beneficial ".■* 

When in 1874 the Freedmen's Bank failed the Jackson- 
ville branch had $39,400.00 on deposit from some i ,608 de- 
positors — mostly negroes — and the Tallahassee branch 
$30,610.35 from 766 depositors.^ These poor people lost 
a large part of their savings and no doubt had their pristine 
faith in banks and the goodness of the new regime badly 
shaken. 

^ Floridian, Feb. 15 and 19, 1867. See reference to bank in Minutes 
of Republican Club of Jacksonville. For the bank elsewhere, see 
Prof. Fleming's Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama for an ad- 
mirable account of the institution there ; also, his Doc. Hist, for the 
whole South. 

* One, Stonelake, was chairman of the bank's " Advertising Com- 
mittee" in Tallahassee, Floridian, Feb. 19, 1867. For charges of dis- 
graceful frauds of Stonelake in selling painted sticks to negroes, see 
Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, p. 40. 

' H. Rpts., 41st C, 2nd S., no. 121, pp. 47-48. 

* Ibid., p. 486. 

' Sen. Rpts., 46th C, 2nd S., no. 440, pp. 22, 41. 



THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 



393 



But memories of misfortune do not linger long in the 
Ethiopian's head. The failure hardly produced demoral- 
izing distrust even among the comparatively few who were 
the victims. The negro as a freedman was expected to be- 
come master of his own wealth. The Freedmen's Bank 
encouraged the ex-slave to put his earnings in a safe place 
presumably, and enabled him to realize an interest on his 
money. Practically, therefore, the plan tended toward in- 
culcating thrift, and though the plan ended in disaster, yet 
it became for a short time under the Bureau's oversight a / 
potent instrument for teaching economic values to the 
black. 

Another attempt to protect the economic interests of the 
negro — and in some ways the most important function of 
the Bureau — was the direction and management of the 
written contract system for labor. Thousands of such con- 
tracts between blacks and whites were entered into in all 
parts of Florida during 1865-68. They were made usually 
under the eyes of a Federal agent, and thus very profoundly 
did the Bureau touch the active agricultural and industrial 
life of the commonwealth. 

What was the character pf these contracts? How did 
the system work out? 

The avowed policy of Osborn (the first Bureau chief of 
the state) was to leave the amount of the wage to the law 
of supply and demand, after, however, fixing carefully a 
minimum of food to be furnished in advance by the white 
landlord. This minimum was four pounds of bacon, one 
peck of meal, and one pint of syrup or the equivalent per 
week per laborer. The male head of a family might make 
a contract binding his wife and those children old enough 
to labor but legally under age. The contracts stipulated or 
implied the hours of work to be performed each day, the 
days of labor, the food to be advanced, and the wage or 



394 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

share of the crop to be paid. The planter usually allowed 
the laborer one-third of the crop which he might cultivate 
and his food and lodging till the crop was made. In saw- 
mills and in turpentine orchards and distilleries the stipu- 
lated return was in cash or supplies. A Bureau agent gen- 
erally witnessed the making of these contracts and for this 
service he charged a small fee which was paid by the land- 
lord.^ 

On September 21st, 1865, Osborn ordered all sub-assistant 
commissioners of the Bureau to report to him the number 
of freedmen in their respective districts; approximately the 
number laboring under written contracts ; the average wage 
or share of the crop received by the laborer; the degree of 
contentment apparent; the attitude of white employer 
toward negro employee; and the disposition of the negroes 
to loaf, congregate in towns, and steal. Officials were di- 
rected very positively by Osborn to discourage the blacks 
from collecting in towns, at military posts, at railway sta- 
tions, or in isolated communities. " It should be constantly 
borne in mind," ran the order, " that the labor of the freed- 
men is most profitable to himself as well as to the employer 
where the labor can be made to yield the largest returns, 
which, as a general rule, is on plantations or in the lumber 
business." ^ 

Bureau officials were cautioned against giving railway 
transportation to blacks, and were to bend all energies 
toward inducing them to make written contracts — docu- 
ments which in the magnified vision of the blacks' new mas- 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 85-90, 283. jV. Y. Times, 
June 13, 1866. Gen. Steedman states that in " Fernandina District 
Maj. Shearer of 7th Ohio who acts wihout pay gets $5.00 for each 
contract." Also Rpts. of Gens. Steedman and Fullerton, Johnson 
Papers. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 79-80. - 



THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 393 

ters, the Bureau agents, became personal Magna Chartas 
for the members of the liberated race. 

Later state law on the subject — so howled-down by the 
Northern Radicals — was in substantial accord with the Bu- 
reau's labor system, in fact, grew out of it. Florida sta- 
tutes announced that written contracts must be made when 
black labored for white. Would the state or the Bureau 
see that the contracts were keptf The state government 
would punish for the breach of contract; the Bureau prac- 
tically would not tolerate such action if the offender were 
a negro. 

The assistant-commissioner reported in December, 1865, 
that the "freedmen generally decline to make contracts for 
the ensuing year until after New Year." ^ This condition 
of affairs was due to the strange African belief prevalent 
over the entire South among the blacks that on New Year, 
1866, a general division of property would be made. When 
the expected division was not made and the Florida legis- 
lature enacted its stringent " Black Code ", negroes became 
less restive and over the length and breadth of Florida 
written contracts were entered into with a new zest.^ 

The system excited opposition among the whites. 
" There is some dissatisfaction with the Freedmen's Bu- 
reau. There is a large class of lawless men in this state 
who are restive under the restraints of military rule and 
feel impatient that it is not removed," reported General 
Foster in March, 1866.^ " The prevailing opinion is that 

1 H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70. 

* Ibid., p. 27y. " Where the freedmen worked well," stated Osborn, 
" wages received were good and where they have for any cause 
worked badly, wages have been small ; but the freedmen usually ac- 
cept the result as a natural consequence of a summer of idleness and 
commence this year with a determination of procuring better pay for 
doing more work." 

' H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, p. 8. 



396 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

the General Government should not interfere in that matter 
at all; that it should be left entirely to the people of the 
State," testified a Federal agent from Florida before the 
Reconstruction Committee. 

They [Southerners] say they understand the negro better than 
we [Northerners] do; that they can manage him better; and 
that the government has not any right whatever to interfere 
in the matter. They evidently desire one of two things in the 
matter ; to so control the negro that he will be in a condition 
of semi-slavery or peonage or else to make the free-labor sys- 
tem an utter failure in order to show that their own peculiar 
notions about the subject are correct.^ 

By the advent of summer (1866) the reports of various 
Bureau agents on contracts were reassuring. "The negroes 
are working diligently," wrote Colonel Sprague in July. 
Sprague had then just completed an extended tour of in- 
spection among the plantations, his journey including the 
towns of Jacksonville, Starke, Waldo, Gainesville, Bron- 
son, and Cedar Keys.^ " The contract system is good," 
he continued. " Justice is being done the freedmen as 
laborers." The agent from Lake City reported : " Many 
planters assure me that the contract system is better than 
the slave system." Later he wrote: "The planters want 
peace." * General Steedman inspected the Bureau's work 
in Florida and stated in June, 1866: "The freedmen are 
at work and are liberally compensated." * 

The written contract labor system although cumbersome 
began favorably,^ and might have worked out well to the 

• H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, p. 9. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, pp. 87-88. 

* !bid., p. 10, April 28, 1866. * N. Y. Times, June 13, 1866. 

^ See references to favorable conditions in H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 
1st S., no. 70, pp. 275, 283-4; 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, p. 11. Report 
of Gen. Steedman, N. Y. Times. June 13, 1866; Johnson Papers, 1866. 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 



397 



end if the negro and the Bureau agent had not attempted 
to dictate to the white landlord/ The high price of cotton 
in 1865 induced planters to offer good wages," which fact 
encouraged the more greedy laborers backed by Bureau 
officials to try for even better wages. The average wage for 
a first-class hand was a share in the crop — equivalent to 
about $150 per annum, in addition to food and shelter. In 
the sawmills and turpentine orchards the wage was $25 to 
$30 per month and no food advanced.^ 

There were not enough laborers in Florida to perform 
adequately the work of the state.* Three out of four plant- 
ers wanted more workmen. One planter near Tallahassee 
offered to pay the fines of all negroes confined in the county 
jail if he might work them on his estate at good wages. 
Some prisoners were released to him under these condi- 
tions.' The reports of the Bureau, the news in local Con- 
servative journals, the talk of politicians, the letters North 
from Florida — all indicate the prevalence — possible super- 
abundance — of opportunities for remunerative labor, and 
this conclusion casts discredit upon the statement of Gen- 
eral Howard, head of the Bureau, who in March, 1866, de- 
clared that in Florida more than $10,000 per month was 
needed for the distribution of free food alone. ^ 

' For an instance of attempted dictation with the Bureau's help, see 
H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 281-2, 232. See also criti- 
cism of Bureau in Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, pp. 40-41, and Rerick, 
Memoirs of Florida, v. i, p. 319. 

* Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 27, p. 48. 

• H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 278. 

♦ Floridian, Jan. 11, Feb. i, Feb. 19, 1867. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 278-9. 

• Sen. Ex. Docs., 40th C, ist S., no. i. The South was less pros- 
perous in March, 1867, than in March, 1866, due partly to a short 
cotton crop. Howard called for a total appropriation by Congress of 
$1,508,750, "to meet the extreme want occasioned by the failure of the 
crop." See also Gamage to Johnson, Oct. 30, 1865, Johnson Papers. 



398 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Colonel Flint, Federal commander at Tallahassee, de- 
clared that frequent well-grounded complaints against the 
blacks had reached him, charging them with deliberate vio- 
lation of contracts, with idleness, vagrancy, theft, and 
sometimes " violence upon the persons of whites ". Exor- 
bitant wages were demanded by them, " and," Flint con- 
tinued, " insolence and refusal to do what they agree to do 
follow. Combinations exist among the blacks to force the 
payment of high wages. They exult in the change which 
has taken place in conditions — now say they are the mas- 
ters." ' 

Labor contracts constituted only one of the many matters 
which became the source of troublesome differences among 
blacks and whites. " Both classes are far from being ac- 
customed to their new relative positions," stated Bureau 
Agent Mahoney in Lake City in July, 1866. Mahoney 
afterwards became an active Republican politician. " The 
whites are very apt still to expect and exact the deference 
and respectful submission formerly observed toward them 
by the blacks," he said, 

while the latter, imbued with very extraordinary ideas about 
their freedom, consider themselves fully on a level with their 
former masters, and seldom fail to show that such is their 
opinion. Hence many little collisions of almost hourly occur- 
rence, which though trifling in their nature at present, may, 
by repetition, become a source of standing disagreement be- 
tween the two races. . . . On the other hand, the small town 
politicians of 1861 are politicians still, and though less loud 
now than then, still love to speak of the down-trodden South 
and her wrongs, which sentiments find a ready echo in the 
hearts of the younger men of the country.^ 

^ H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, p. 77- 
' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 82-83. 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 399 

Another agent stated that he would feel no security in 
Florida if the military were withdrawn. " I would have 
no fear of the intelligent planters," he said, 

but there are the bar-room loafers, previously slave-drivers 
and overseers, and who are called " piney woods men " — 
men who, as the old settlers have said to me, have escaped 
justice in other states and have settled here. Then there is a 
class of boys of nineteen or twenty years of age, who would 
put a bowie knife or bullet through a Northern man as they 
would through a mad dog.^ 

The larger planters, belonging mainly to the class that 
ruled the South before the war, were somehow more 
amicably disposed toward the Bureau and the Federal mili- 
tary than were the majority of the native Southern whites. 
The vision of the aristocracy was a broader one than that 
of the poor white. The disastrous outcome of the war 
had discredited this upper class. It received the hardest 
treatment at the hands of the North, yet its influence was 
the most powerful single factor in the South for peace 
and harmony. Its control over society was less felt than 
in the olden times, but in 1865-66 it exercised in Florida 
certainly a restraining influence. A new and lower stratum 
of the Democracy had come to the surface in the South — • 
a stratum less rich, less fine, narrower, more apt at conflict 
than at compromise. The President of the United States 
was a fair example. 

" There have been cases of ill-treatment and dishonest 
dealing on the part of planters with freedmen," stated Os- 
born, " while we also find noble treatment on the part of 
others. For instance, Colonel R. H. Gamble and Colonel J. 
J. Williams each employed 125 hands last year, and Colonel 
Gamble has paid upwards of $12,000 for their labor and is 

' H. Rpts., 39th C. 1st S., no. 30, p. 8. Testimony L. M. Hobbs. 



400 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

still indebted to them, while Colonel Williams aside from 
what he has paid now holds $10,000 in cash subject to the 
orders of his laborers." ^ 

The aristocratic ex-Confederate, who had fallen from 
comfortable affluence to poverty, readily entered into fair 
written contracts with his negro laborers, kept his end of 
the bargain, and showed a spirit of kindly conciliation in 
co-operating with the Freedmen's Bureau. But "the people 
at large," stated Florida's Bureau head, " show a spirit of 
dislike or hatred for the freedmen that is hard to account 
for. The feeling among the little planters, lawyers, and 
members of the present legislature, the croakers, and the 
other small fry is contemptible." ^ 

The assistant commissioner (Osborn) professed that he 
would disabuse the minds of the blacks of erroneous ideas 
in regard to the new relations of white men and black men; 
that he would impress upon them that the only possible 
means of obtaining a livelihood was by honest and con- 
tinuous industry. " The usual remedy for vagrancy, 
breaking contracts, and other crimes will be resorted to," 
he announced in general orders, 

the freedmen and other persons of African descent having the 
same rights and privileges before military and civil courts that 
the white citizens have. . . . Every person should labor in 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 280. Both Gamble and 
Williams were aristocratic Southern planters who had supported the 
Confederacy. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 275. There is testimony to 
the contrary. A man from Florida was asked by the Reconstruction 
Committee "what class of white people in that State [Florida] in 
your judgment are the most inimical to the blacks?" He replied: 
" The wealthiest class — those whom we formerly termed ' the upper 
grade' — lhe upper crust. The poorer class of whites are not so un- 
favorable to the black man as those formerly known as the wealthier 
class." H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, p. 2. 



THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 



401 



some capacity to earn his bread and support his family. . . . 
I also believe that the broad principles of demand and supply 
should, in every community, govern the price of labor, or in 
other words, that labor is a commodity in the market and the 
possessor of it is entitled to the highest market value, and 
that any restriction on the price of labor beyond this has a 
tendency to injure the best interests of employer and employee 
alike. I have, too, everywhere where the influence of the 
Bureau ^was brought to bear directly upon the freedmen, en- 
deavored to treat them as men endowed with common sense. 
... I have endeavored to stand in the gap made by a life- 
time's education of one party upon the prejudice engendered 
by a slave-holding community and the ignorance naturally re- 
sulting from the condition of slaves in the other party. The 
freed-people of Florida need no sympathy above other people, 
but they require justice at the hands of the white people and 
of the government.^ 

Did the blacks obtain this justice? 

When Assistant-Commissioner Osborn made the fore- 
going declaration of worthy principles and fair play he 
himself was playing an active part in organizing Lincoln 
Brotherhoods (secret political societies) among the blacks 
and in teaching them loyalty to the Republican party.^ 
Why? Osborn afterwards reached the United States Sen- 
ate by negro votes. For ^bvious and historical reasons his 
political activity was very positively objected to by most 
native whites. His official position as local chief of the 
Bureau accentuated their objections. If the Republican 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, pp. 277-8. 

* Wallace, Carpetbag Rule, p. 42. See Also H. Rpts., 41st C, 2nd S., 
no. 121, pp. 47-8, for reference to political aspect of Bureau's activity. 
Col. Sprague stated that he had registered 15,441 blacks in Florida to 
11,151 whites, and that he had "taken measures for their [black's] 
quiet instruction through the medium of sub-assistants in their rights 
and duties under the Reconstruction Acts." 



402 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

party had been the purest and most patriotic organization 
in history, still the Southerner then would have been sus- 
picious of it. Would the negro obtain justice from his 
Southern white neighbor or the Bureau rise in the esti- 
mate of the Southern white under these circumstances? 

The Bureau in Florida began well. " You will fail to 
find in Florida the abuses in the Bureau which exist in Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina," stated Benja- 
min Truman in May, 1866. " There are some in'discreet 
men connected with the Bureau but no downright swindlers, 
I think." ' It soon found itself in antagonism to the 
native white population. This was due in part to preju- 
dices and class conflict beyond the control of government 
and in larger part to the lack of judgment and lack of hon- 
esty among Bureau officials. 

The sentimental attitude of these men toward the black 
— due perhaps to a genuine but unfortunate optimism — ex- 
asperated the Southern whites and did not teach the negro 
wisdom. Colonel Sprague, in February, 1867, then chief 
of the Bureau in Florida, called the attention of General 
Howard to the manner in which Emancipation Day had 
been kept by the freedmen. " In all the principal towns of 
the State they assembled in large bodies. Processions 
paraded the streets bearing Unit'.i States banners. Meet- 
ings were held and addressed by agents of the Bureau, and 
the day ended in dances and suppers." This celebration so 
impressed the assistant commissioner that he declared it 
to be " one of the strongest evidences of the freedmen's 
appreciation of his position irrespective of labor." ' Par- 
ading and feasting were construed as evidences of social 
progress and were encouraged by the Bureau agent. The 

1 N. Y. Times, June 8, 1866. 

> Rpt. of Sprague, A''. Y. Tribune, Feb. 20, 1867. 



THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 



403 



law-abiding Southern whites feared the disorder which ac- 
companied such demonstrations.^ 

Colonel Sprague was a good military officer and a man 
evidently fair in his intentions. Some of his subordinates 
were neither. Colonel Flint of the Federal garrison at 
Tallahassee realized the situation when he wrote : " A 
sound discretion in selecting officers, both civil and military, 
to fill various offices would materially aid in bringing about 
a more harmonious and prosperous condition of affairs. 
Unfortunately the important and delicate duties have some- 
times devolved upon persons of weak minds, contracted 
views, and strong prejudices." ^ 

Flint could have included in his indictment some refer- 
ence to official stealing. One function of the Bureau was 
to furnish rations to the destitute — bacon, meal, syrup, peas, 
flour, potatoes, rice, etc. These supplies were shipped to 
various local agents to be distributed by them as occasion 
arose. This offered an opportunity for graft and stealing, 
and the opportunity was utilized. Some agents stocked 
little stores (shops) with rations and sold them for their 
personal benefit. Others engaged in cotton planting and 
paid the black laborers with Bureau rations.^ On the east 
coast, south of St. Augustine, an attempt was made to es- 
tablish a negro colony under white leadership. The leader 
operated a sawmill. The laborers were paid with Bureau 
rations.* In Central and West Florida, W. J. Purman, M. 
L. Stearns and several other local Bureau agents were ac- 
cused of devoting to their own use Bureau rations." 

^ See, for instance, the testimony of Judge Sam J. Douglas before 
Cong. Committee, H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 294. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, pp. 77-78. 

* H. Rpts., 41st C, 2nd S., no. 121, pp. 446-456; Wallace, op. cit., pp 
40-41. 

* H. Rpts., 41st C, 2nd S., no. 121, pp. 449, 486. 
^ Wallace, op. cit., pp. 40-41. 



404 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



A negro active as a Republican politician in Florida dur- 
ing Reconstruction has written thus : 

Instead of a blessing it [the Bureau] proved the worst curse 
of the race. The Agents of the Bureau were stationed in all 
the cities and principal towns of the State. They overruled 
the local authorities with the arbitrary force of military power. 
. . , The National Government sent provisions to the state to 
be distributed to such of the freedmen as were struggling 
without means of subsistence to make a crop. This meat and 
flour was placed in the hands of these agents for distribution, 
who appropriated it at their discretion and frequently more 
largely for their own benefit, than that of their wards. The 
commissioner of the Bureau for this State in company with a 
retired army officer carried on a large plantation on the Apa- 
lachicola until General Steedman was appointed to examine 
and report upon the condition of the Bureau's affairs, when in 
anticipation of his visit to the state his interest was suddenly 
transferred to his partner, who after gathering and disposing 
of the cotton crop and all the available stock on the place 
gathered himself up and left without paying his rent." ^ 

A gentleman of Florida, a Southerner, who was an active 
business man during the Reconstruction period, judging 
the period in retrospect summed-up his views of the Bureau 
thus: 

The freedmen were in a destitute condition after the war, and 
to better their condition the Freedmen's Bureau was estab- 
lished to extend all kinds of aid to the negro. It probably did 
more harm than good, demoralizing the blacks and putting an 
incentive on laziness, besides putting a powerful lever in the 
hands of unscrupulous agents for the perpetration of fraud 
and the organization of the blacks into political factions for 
their leader's support. Too much freedom was given the 
Bureau agents in handling the funds. There was one agent 

^ Wallace, op. cit., p. 41. 



THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU 



405 



who came to Pensacola to establish a school for blacks. He 
was an honest man, I think. I had some dealings with him 
in regard to the land, and I noticed what broad lee-way was 
given. He practically consulted no one regarding his expen- 
ditures — just sent in his bills to department headquarters.^ 

The state government and the Bureau were in conflict 
before the end of the first sixty days of the reorganized 
government's existence. Colonel Osborn declared that he 
wished the supremacy of the civil government recognized, 
yet on February 26th, 1866, he issued an order forbidding 
the use of whipping post and pillory.^ The state admin- 
istration was warned that the application of certain statutes 
in the Black Code would not be tolerated by the Bureau. 
The tribunals of that institution aggressively opposed what 
they interpreted as abuse of the negro by civilians and local 
officials. They insisted upon no difference in treatment, 
before the law, of blacks and whites. Negroes formed the 
habit of running to the Bureau agents with complaint, and 
in some localities the whites were sharply called to account, 
lectured on justice and honesty, fined, and incarcerated.^ 
The state assistant commissioner ordered that Bureau offi- 
cials apprehend all landlords who should unjustly turn 
blacks out of homes occupied by them.* 

The state legislature in January, 1866, as one of its first 
acts, petitioned the President of the United States to 
transfer the affairs of the Bureau entirely to the Federal 
military in garrison." The legislature claimed that the 

* Conversation with Mr. Edward Anderson, of Pensacola. 

* Fla. Union, Feb. 3, 1866. On Nov. 15, 1865, Circular no. 9 had 
stated, " stripes or other corporal punishment will not be adminis- 
tered to any person over 15 years of age except by authority of a 
court of law." H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 70, pp. 86-87. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 232, 282, 285. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, p. 88, Cir. no. 10, Dec. 31, 1865. 

* Walker to Johnson, June 13, 1866, Johnson Papers. 



4o6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Bureau's affairs had been conducted with neither good 
judgment nor economy, and that the belief had been spread 
among the blacks by its agents that the land of the former 
masters would be divided among the one-time slaves/ This 
was a serious indictment, but was not taken seriously by 
the Federal government. 

In truth, the institution condemned by the state would 
have had to be a very perfect and soft-mannered institution 
to have avoided offending the Southern whites, particularly 
those directly interested in the Conservative government, 
state and local. The Bureau offered a tribunal for the black 
above and outside of the state courts.^ Its personnel was 
largely of newcomers from the North. Its authority rested 
upon Federal bayonets. Yet it was not the military au- 
thority back of the Bureau or the patent fact that most of 
its officials were " Yankees " and " scalawags " that con- 
stituted fundamentally the casus belli between it and the 
state government. The legislature had expressly petitioned 
that the " military " be given control. It was a " Yankee 
chaplain " who framed the negro school law — part of the 
Black Code — for the first Conservative assembly.^ The 
first superintendent of negro education for the state was a 
" Yankee " ex-chaplain, the appointee of Governor Walker, 
a Conservative ex-Confederate. So was the second super- 
intendent. Many of the teachers in the state schools for 
blacks were from the North. A few highly-respected citi- 
zens of Florida in 1866 were lately from the North — some 
having served in the Union army and supported the Repub- 
lican party. Blind Southern prejudice was hardly the prime 
cause for the Bureau's unpopularity. 

' Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, Resolution 2, Jan. 11, 1866. 
* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57. 

» H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, p. 8; H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, ist S., 
no. 70; A'^. Y. Evening Post, March 16, 1866. 



THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 



407 



In final analysis, that which constituted the basis of ob- 
jection by Conservative Floridians to the Freedmen's Bu- 
reau was its existence in the state as a quasi-civil institution 
not amenable to the government of the state; showing posi- 
tively political tendencies hostile to the Conservative party 
which strenuously sought then to govern the state ; exhibit- 
ing a disposition to forbid and prevent the operation of 
certain laws; rudely interfering, here and there, in the eco- 
nomic relations of white employer and black employee;^ 
and by the teachings of its agents bringing the local gov- 
ernment into disrepute among the blacks as well as menac- 
ing the future existence of what Conservative whites were 
prone to consider necessary social laws. 

" The Freedmen's Bureau," stated in 1866 the superin- 
tendent of negro schools, " operated very much like the 
father's rod over the door in keeping the boys straight. 
The boys behave themselves because they know the rod is 
there rather than because they have felt it much, and so 
with the Bureau. The people will treat the negro well and 
give him a fair chance when they know they have to do it." " 

The foregoing characteristics, evident before the end of 
1866, made the Bureau veritably obnoxious to those who 
sought to restore the authority and dignity of the state gov- 
ernment and the full supremacy of a respected civil and 
criminal law — to say nothing of the unwritten law. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no 70, p. 283. See communication 
from Bureau Agent Hamilton at Marianna. 
' H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, p. 11. 



CHAPTER XVI 
The Problem of Conservative Rule 

The convention which met during the autumn of 1865 
had for its task the adjustment of the commonwealth's 
constitution to the political change which came with the 
restoration of Federal authority. The legislature which 
on December i8th assembled in Tallahassee at the call of 
this convention attempted by the enactment of law to 
adjust actual government to the revised fundamental law 
and the immediate needs of society. 

The most disturbing factor in the situation was not 
change in the organs of government, nor the necessity of 
making civil law subserve harmoniously the ends of mili- 
tary orders. That which disturbed law-makers South and 
philanthropists North was the unsettled civil and political 
status of the Southern negro. The blacks then composecf 
about one-half of Florida's population. In attempting to 
adjust this new question of negro citizenship, the legis- 
lature enacted laws of a peculiar character. Florida's 
course was practically the same as that of other Southern 
states. Because these laws — generally known as Black 
Codes — furnished the Radical in the North much political 
capital, an examination of their spirit and letter should oc- 
cupy an important place in the history of Conservative rule 
(1865-7). Their enactment was considered by the North 
the most significant development South during the first 
year of peace. The spirit of the laws furnishes an insight 
into the spirit of the society that was to undergo recon- 
struction. 
408 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



409 



The immediate problem of conservative rule was to make 
peace and order possible under normal civil government. 
The larger problem was to meet this need of the hour with- 
out clashing with the military, without giving free rein to 
narrow local Southern prejudice, without encouraging 
meddlesome political reformers North, and at the same 
time without unduly offending the saner folk in the victor- 
ious section. 

The assembling of the legislature in December, 1865, 
marked the end of Governor Marvin's task as a reorganizer 
under commission from the President. His work had 
been proficiently done. The state government had been 
reconstructed under his direction. It was not until the i8th 
of January, 1866, however, that the President formally 
ordered him to relinquish to Governor-elect Walker and 
the legislature the direction of the new government. 

Marvin's parting injunction to the assembled legislators 
contained the recommendation that laws be passed binding 
negroes to contracts made by them and providing for their 
arrest and forced labor on state farms or in state work- 
shops if they broke their contracts.^ Marvin was origi- 
nally a Northern man and a stout defender of the Union 
in Florida during the war. He advised measures which 
when adopted later by ex-Confederates were considered at 
the North as deliberate attempts by the disloyal Southerner 
to thwart the results oi the war and the objects of a pa- 
triotic national government. 

The opening address of Walker, the newly-elected gov- 
ernor, was mild. He fully acknowledged the obvious results 
of the war. "The logic of events had proven that secession 

* Marvin's Address, Dec. 20, 1865. Report of Committee on Recon- 
struction, H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. 13. He also said that 
poor children without parents " should be apprenticed until they are 
21 years of age." 



4IO RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

was wrong," he said — and then he passed from the settled 
issues to the still unsettled problem — the negro. 

" They are free," he said, " but they are no longer our 
contented and happy slaves with an abundant supply of 
clothing for themselves and family and the intelligence of 
a superior race to look ahead and make necessary arrange- 
ments for their comfort. They are now a discontented 
and unhappy people, roving about in gangs." He ventured 
to touch the haunting question of black enfranchisement. 
" Each of us knows that we could never give an honest or 
conscientious assent to negro suffrage," he said. " There 
is not one of us who would not feel that he were doing 
wrong and bartering his self-respect and his conscience. 
... It is better, a thousand times better, that we should 
remain out of the Union." ^ At this date the Southern 
Conservative realized the ultimate goal sought by the 
Northern Radical. That same unalterable quantity, " the 
logic of events " which Governor Walker had declared to 
be the only reliable test for political truth, was finally to 
force Florida not only to extend the suffrage to the negro 
but also to remain for more than two years " out of the 
Union ". 

Walker's attitude on negro suffrage was not that of an 
irreconcilable. Governor Marvin had stated in his opening 
address to the constitutional convention : " It does not ap- 
pear to me that the public good of the state or of the nation 
at large would be promoted by conferring at the present 
time upon the freedmen the elective franchise. Neither 
the white people nor the colored people are prepared for 
so radical a change in their social relations." ^ 

The correspondent of the Nezv York Times, a North- 



1 H. Rpts., 39th C, I St S., no. 30, pt. 4, pp. 15-20. 
* Sen. Docs., 39th C, ist S., no. 26, p. 210. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 411 

erner, writing from Tallahassee in July, stated that " no 
one can go among the negroes on the plantations and 
through the rural districts of the South and consider their 
immediate physical and mental necessities without a feeling 
that the immediate enfranchisement of this long oppressed 
people would be like putting upon the naked and famished 
the frills and ruffles and spurs of royalty, while withhold- 
ing food and raiment necessary for existence." ^ 

However, Chief Justice Chase, high in national councils, 
had written from Florida in the spring (1865) that local 
experiment had been made in negro voting and that the sal- 
vation of the country depended upon the enfranchisement 
of the black.^ Charles Sumner was ready to " shudder at " 
the opposition in Florida to negro suffrage.^ 

Following the example set by the convention and obedi- 
ent to the veiled orders of the national administration the 
assembled legislature speedily ratified the Thirteenth 
Amendment to the United States Constitution.* On the 
same day the legislature called upon the governor to have 
the negro troops removed from the state. ^ Such a request 
was not without dry humor. The governor had no con- 
trol over negro troops and little influence in Washington. 
The body then turned its attention to more difficult ques- 
tions. Its action in constructive legislation during this 
session was based to great extent upon a report prepared 

' A''. Y. Times, August i, 1865. 

* Chase to Johnson, May 21 and 23, 1865, Johnson Papers. 

* Speech of Sumner on conditions in Florida, Cong. Globe, 39th C, 
1st S., pt. I, p. 313. 

* McPherson, Political Manual, 1866, pp. 24-25. Ratified Dec. 28, 1865, 
" with the understanding that it does not confer on Congress the 
power to legislate on the status of the freedmen in this state." Marvin 
had feared trouble in obtaining the necessary ratification, see Sen. 
Docs., 39th C, 1st. S., no. 26, pp. 213-14. 

* Laws of Florida. 14th Assembly, Resolutions 16, 10 and 20. 



412 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

by a special commission, created by Governor Marvin at 
the suggestion of the constitutional convention.^ The com- 
missioners were three ex-slaveholders of Central Florida — 
C. H. Dupont, A. J. Peeler, and M. D. Papy — and they laid 
their report before the legislature. 

They pointed out the necessity of expanding the state 
judicial system to meet the need of social control produced 
by the abolition of slavery. They recommended therefore 
the establishment of county criminal courts. The abolition 
of slavery had removed from the black the restraining influ- 
ence of the master and had left nothing permanent in its 
place. The ex-master saw the necessity of bringing the ex- 
slave more fully under the operations of the municipal law. 
Heretofore there had existed in each slave-holding house- 
hold an unofficial tribunal peculiarly adapted to the investi- 
gation and punishment of minor offenses. Such tribunals 
were now extinct. The legislature was advised to create 
different ones in their stead and to make such modifications 
in existing statutes as would give full effect to the criminal 
code. The circuit court as then organized, embracing a 
dozen or more counties in its jurisdiction and holding its 
sessions at stated terms weeks apart, was ill adapted to 
deal expeditiously with the innumerable minor offenses of 
the black (or the white) — and hence the proposal that 
county criminal courts be created was very reasonable.^ 

The next question considered was one of different im- 
port and more serious nature. It was a question of prin- 
ciple, viz., should in future the laws make a distinction be- 
tween blacks and whites. Under the slavery regime such a 
distinction had existed between whites and "free blacks".* 

• Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, pp. 28-36, the full report. 

• Report of Commission, Wallace, pp. 28-36. 

• See J. C. Hurd, Law of Freedom and Bondage, v. 2, pp. 1-218, for 
a summary of the state law and court decisions relating to slavery 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 413 

Were the lately liberated slaves to be considered in the 
category of the former " free blacks ", or were they to be 
considered persons in every respect on a plane of legal 
equality with the whites? 

Difference of opinion on this question showed the gulf 
that existed between the conservative Southerner and the 
Radical in the North. The determination of the South- 
erner to put the lately liberated slave in the position of the 
fonr:er "freti negro" created political capital for the North- 
ern negrophile, who professed to believe that the process of 
emancipation did not stop in merely severing the relations 
of master and slave, but that it extended further and so 
operated as to raise the entire race to a plane of perfect 
legal equality with the white. 

At this point a question logically presents itself. Before 
the abolition of slavery what was the position under the 
law of the free negro in Florida? He belonged to a class 
designated by the courts and the legislature as " free per- 
sons of color ". He possessed no political rights whatever, 
but he did possess certain civil righs. He could purchase, 
hold and convey property and transmit it to his heirs. He 
could sue and be sued in the state courts.^ He might law- 

in all states and territories until the Civil War. A distinction in 
law between whites and free blacks was universal in the South and 
existed to a limited extent in the North. The revised Constitution of 
1865 in excluding the blacks from the suffrage and from the jury box 
and witness stand in civil cases, and in apportioning representation in 
the legislature according to the three-fifths rule of slavery, continued 
this d'stinction. Const, of 1865, Arts. 6, 9, and 16, H. Rpts., 39th C, 
1st S., no. 30, pt. 4, pp. 20-31. 

1 "A free person of color being liable to be sued, it follows as a nec- 
essary consequence that he is entitled to all the means and opportunity 
of making and presenting his defense which are permitted and al- 
lowed other suitors, except where he is restricted by the force of some 
express statutory regulation." Davis vs. Administrators of Elliott, 
Florida Reports, v. 5, pp. 260-268. 



414 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

fully move from place to place in the state freely and ac- 
cording to his own volition. He enjoyed the advantages of 
the writ of habeas corpus. " A free negro as well as a free 
white man," stated Chief Justice Thomas Baltzell, in 1859, 
" must be entitled to the benefits of the Habeas Corpus Act 
both according to its language which is broad and general 
and still more according to its spirit. If it were otherwise, 
that wretched class would be altogether without protection 
from the grossest outrage and their personal liberty would 
be an unsubstantial shadow." ^ 

Yet the law required every free black to have a white 
" guardian " appointed by a judge of probate.^ He could 
not lawfully keep or use firearms or buy them, or powder, 
lead, shot or even spirituous liquor without the consent of 
this guardian.^ He was forbidden to purchase or have 
poisonous drugs under any circumstances.* He was for- 
bidden to use abusive or provoking language to or lift his 
hands in opposition to any person " not a negro or a mu- 
latto ". He could be a witness in the courts only when 
" slaves, free negroes or mulattoes " were involved. In 
case of an execution against him, "without payment in five 
days " he might be " sold as a slave ".^ He could be law- 
fully " whipped " for committing offenses which entailed 

' Clark vs. Gautier, Fla. Rpts., v. 8, pp. 360-69. 

' Laws of Florida, 1847-8, chap. 155. All free negroes and mulattoes 
above the age of 12 years were required to have a guardian " who 
shall have power to sue for and recover all such sums of money as 
are or hereafter may be owing to such free negro or mulatto, and 
shall have the same control over such free negroes or mulat'oes as is 
possessed by guardians in other cases." See also Clark vs. Gautier, 
Fla. Rpts., v. 8, p. 369; Davis vs. Administrators of Elliott, v. 5, pp. 
260-68. 

' Laws of Florida, 1856, chapts. 794-95. 

* Ibid., 1843, chap. 12. 

^ Clark vs. Gautier, Fla. Rpts., v. 8, pp. 360-369. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 415 

no such punishment for the white man/ He could be ap- 
prehended for vagrancy and " sold as a slave " for a limited 
period.^ He was required to pay a small special capitation 
tax, and if he failed to pay this, he was liable to be sold as 
a slave till by labor he paid up the debt.^ 

The free negro constituted, in fact, a class midway, as 
regards personal freedom, between the slave and the white 
man, and the white man strove to restrict both the size and 
the activity of this class. " Their immigration to this state 
is prohibited, with directions to the justices of the peace to 
transport them beyond the state," declared the state su- 
preme court in 1859.* 

The free negro population of Florida was insignificant 
in 1861 — scarcely 1,000 souls." With the arrival of eman- 
cipation in 1865 all negroes became free negroes. The 
class had increased sixty fold. From an interesting anom- 
aly it now loomed up before the Southern whites as the 
most serious social reality that they as a body had ever 
faced. 

An important question for the legislature to consider in 
1866 was the finding of ways and means the least dis- 
turbing to the public welfare for restraining the law- 
breaker and the criminal. Were blacks and whites to be 
subject to the same sort of punishment? In deciding such 
a question wisely legislatures should consider the racial or 
ethnic characters of the peoples under consideration, the de- 

' Laws of Florida, 1847-48, chap. 139. 

* Clark vs. Gautier, pp. 360-9. 

* Laws of Florida, 1842, chap. 32. 

* Clark vs. Gautier, pp. 360-69. See Laws of Florida, 1826, Ann L., 
p. 81 ; 1832, Ann. L., p. 143 ; 1854-5, chap. 646. 

* According to the census of i860 the free colored population of 
Florida was 932. Of this number more than 600 were mulattoes. See 
Census, vol. on population, p. 54. 



4i6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

gree and direction of their enlightenment, and the historic 
relationship of classes. Few laws are sound for all peo- 
ples at all times. " To degrade a white man by corporal 
punishment " then was to make a bad member of society, 
usually, and a dangerous political agent. To fine and im- 
prison a Florida negro in his pecuniary and intellectual 
condition at that time was " to punish the state instead of 
the individual ".^ 

There was also a certain practical reason for a difference 
in punishment for blacks and whites. To fine and im- 
prison a petty negro offender would mean his withdrawal 
from work in the fields. To whip him was a more speedily 
terminated interruption and less damaging to the white 
planter. Historically, also, it was the way in the South 
for punishing recalcitrant " free blacks ". It seemed there- 
fore wise to leave to the discretion of the court the inflict- 
ing of fine and imprisonment or whipping and the pillory 
for the committing of certain offenses. 

The commission next proposed restrictions on the right 
of the black to carry fire-arms. They pointed to the law 
of Indiana on the subject and stated " that it is needless to 
attempt to satisfy the exactions of fanatical theorists. We 
have a duty to perform — the protection of our wives and 
children from threatened danger and the prevention of 
scenes which may cost the extinction of our entire race ".^ 

The draft of a bill entitled " An Act to Establish and 
Enforce the Marriage Relations between Persons of Color" 
was laid before the legislature by the commission with the 
statement that it was necessary for the whites to improve 
the moral condition of their lately liberated slaves. Hitherto 
this matter had been left to the moral sense of master and 

* Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, p. 32, Report of Commission. 
» Ibid., p. 33. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



417 



slave — " and may in truth," added the report, " be said to 
have been the only inherent evil of the institution of slav- 
ery as it existed in the Southern states." 

Finally, state regulation of negro labor was proposed " in 
order to save the blacks from the ruin which inevitably 
awaits them if left to the tender mercy of the canting hypoc- 
risy and mawkish sentimentality which precipitated them 
to the realization of their present condition "/ 

The recommendations of the commission were followed 
by the legislature and a code was enacted which established 
county criminal courts " and extended the civil jurisdiction 
of the justices of the peace; ^ which defined a negro as a 
person of one-eighth or more negro blood in his v.eins;* 
which embodied the principle of dififerent laws for the dif- 
ferent races ; and which embraced, in addition, the follow- 
ing points. 

In the first place, the courts were given the right to sub- 
stitute whipping and the pillory for all crimes punishable 
by fine and imprisonment.^ This enactment made provision 
for a difference in punishment between black and white. 
In another statute the courts were declared open to all with- 

^ Wallace, op. cit., p. 34. 

* Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, chap. 1465, passed Jan. 11, 1866. 
The judges in these courts were to be appointed by the governor. The 
courts were to have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts in 
trial of the following offenses: "assault, assault and battery, assault with 
intent to kill, riot, affray, larceny, robbery, arson, burglary, malicious 
mischief, vagrancy, and all misdemeanors and offenses against re- 
ligion, chastity, morality, and decency — provided the punishment did not 
affect the life of the offender." 

' Ibid., chap. 1477, passed Jan. 12. The justices were given exclusive 
and original jurisdiction in all suits for the collection of debts, dues, 
etc., where the principal did not exceed $100. 

* Ibid., chap. 1468, Jan. 12. 

* Ibid., chap. T466. 



41 8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

out distinction of color or previous condition/ The taking 
of agricultural fixtures'or products from the freehold with- 
out the owner's permission was declared larceny and a 
matter for criminal action by the state." This offense had 
been formerly the subject for civil suit only. The negro 
thief at that time was not a remunerative individual to pro- 
ceed against in civil suit. 

To raise revenue for the state government a general 
property tax of one-half of one per cent was authorized, 
and a capitation tax of $3 on all males between the ages of 
twenty-one and fifty-five years. If the capitation tax was 
not paid, the delinquent might be seized and hired out by 
the county officials to any one who would pay the tax. It 
is clear that the last provision would bear very directly on 
the often penniless and improvident negro.^ 

Those laws which made up what became popularly 
known as the " Black Code " were as follows : an act con- 
cerning ordinary crime ; an act concerning sexual morality ; 
acts concerning indigency, vagrancy, and apprenticeship; 
an act concerning labor contracts ; and an act establishing 
schools for negroes. 

Four classes of offenses w^ere made punishable by death; 
namely, the inciting of insurrection among any portion of 
the population, the rape of a white female, the adminis- 
tering of poison to another, and burglary.* Plotting mur- 
der, highway robbery, incendiarism, malicious trespass, the 
wilful killing by poison or otherwise of livestock belong- 

1 Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, chap. 1474. ' Ibid., chap. 1474. 

3 Ibid., chap. 1501, Jan. 16, 1866. This property and capitation tax law 
and another statute (chap. 1503) constituted the financial measures 
of this session of the legislature. The property to be taxed included 
all real estate, stocks, bonds, capital employed by merchants, traders, 
steamship companies, etc., all live stock, household furniture, etc. 

* Ibid., chap. 1466. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



419 



ing to another, selling cotton or other agricultural product 
without the permission of the producers, the carrying of 
firearms by any blacks without license, the intrusion by 
white or black on any assemblage or in any railway car 
of the other race, the forming of any military organization 
without authority of law, the wanton injury of public or 
private property, etc., were in detail made punishable by 
fine and imprisonment or whipping and the pillory — at the 
discretion of the court. 

Concerning vagrancy, a statute declared that any person 
without means of support should be required to give bond 
to the state for future good behavior and industry. Failure 
to give bond involved a penalty of a term of labor for the 
county or for any one who might hire the offender from 
the county.^ 

Another statute required the adult children of destitute 
parents to provide for the support of their parents. If 
after a hearing before a county court or justice of the 
peace the law was not obeyed, then the wages or other 
source of income might be appropriated and paid to the 
parents by order of the court. ^ 

For the protection of the young, any parent or guardian 
was given the right with the approval of a judge of pro- 
bate to bind out for a term of years as apprentices his or 
her children under sixteen years of age. If a child (minor) 
were over sixteen years of age then his or her written con- 
sent was necessary before becoming an apprentice. The 
children of vagrants were ipso facto at the disposal of the 
county as apprentices.* 

1 Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, chap. 1467. Those persons appre- 
hended for vagrancy were entitled to jury trial. The jury might sub- 
stitute whipping for forced labor. Minors apprehended for vagrancy 
were subject to the law governing apprenticeship. 

* Ibid., chap. 1476, Jan. 11. 

' Ibid., chap. 1471, Jan. 14. The person taking children as appren- 



420 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

As to the marital relations, a statute gave all negroes 
living together as man and v^ife when the law was passed 
nine months to make up their minds as to whom they in- 
tended living with in the future. Means were provided by 
the law for the easy and speedy registering of the marriage 
bonds before any officer of the state, the county, or muni- 
cipality. Failure to comply with these regulations subjected 
the offender to punishment for adultery.^ 

The attempt to regulate by law the labor of the black was 
in some respects the most vital aspect of the entire code. 
According to the statute all contracts with " persons of 
color " were required to be in writing before two competent 
witnesses. One copy was to be kept by the employer and 
the other filed with some judicial officer. If the black 
broke the contract he would be subject to arrest and the 
same punishment as a vagrant: whipping, the pillory, or 
forced labor for the county or for any one who would hire 
the offender from the county. If a white broke his con- 
tract he would be subject to civil suit for damages." 

The act establishing schools for freedmen made the sys- 
tem distinct and separate from any which might exist for 
whites. The appointment of a general superintendent was 
entrusted to the governor and the senate. A capitation tax 
of $1 upon all negro males between twenty-one and fifty- 
five years of age was levied for the support of these schools, 
and under penalty of fine and imprisonment " any white 
person " was forbidden to teach the freedmen without a 
license from the state.' 

tices covenanted to teach them some art, trade, or husbandry, and 
also the elements of reading and writing — and at the expiration of 
their time of service as apprentices to give " him or her a new suit 
of clothes, blankets, and shoes." 

1 Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, chap. 1469. The law provided for 
$1,000 fine or imprisonment for any one found guilty of fraud in the 
issuance of marriage licenses. 

' Ibid., chap. 1470, Jan. 14. ' Ibid., chap. 1475, Jan. 16. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



421 



The foregoing, in digest, constituted Florida's '' Black 
Code " of 1866. The primary object of these laws was to 
force the black to conform to certain existing conditions of 
morals and industry. The manner in which he should con- 
form, it is needless to say, was imposed by the white race, 
who could to some extent control the black race if it could 
enforce the law. The principle of different laws for differ- 
ent races was adhered to mainly because the existence of 
this principle was then an historical fact in Florida. By 
actual wording, the statutes concerning labor contracts, 
marriages, the carrying of firearms, and certain public 
schools appertained to negroes solely. Rape was a statu- 
tory crime only when perpetrated on " white women ". 

The laws strove to keep the two races apart. They pro- 
vided for the punishment of any white woman who should 
co-habit with a negro man, and a like punishment for the 
negro man ; ^ for the establishment of a distinct and separ- 
ate public school system for negroes; and for the punish- 
ment of any person of either race who should intrude him- 
self on an assemblage or into a railway car of the other 
race. This legislation contained no reference to the ir- 
regular sexual activities of white male and black female — 
an interesting omission in light of the efforts made to draw 
clearly the color line. The law-makers were worldly wise 
enough to know that some ideas drafted into law would be 
impossible to enforce and of no practical effect. Nowhere 
do written laws prove more futile than when applied to 
some sexual questions. 

The black was left free to move about and acquire land 
and other property as he saw fit, provided that in so doing 
he did not break his contract, neglect his family, or lapse 
into vagrancy. 

1 Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, chap. 1468, Jan. 12. The punish- 
ment was $1,000 fine or three months' imprisonment or both at the 
court's discretion. 



422 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Were these laws put into active and actual operation — 
enforced? Were they substantially just to the negro ?^ 

The laws concerning marriage, vagrancy, apprenticeship 
and contracts were fairly successful, with other forces, in 
producing the effect desired — which was to induce the 
negro to return to more systematic life and labor.^ Much 
of the legislation was never widely operative, partly be- 
cause there was no need — the menace of the law proving 
sufficient for the evil — and partly because the Federal mili- 
tary and particularly the Freedmen's Bureau threatened to 
interfere and did interfere in the execution of the law. 

" For instance," writes an intelligent negro who lived in 
Florida at the time, " the law prohibiting colored people 
from handling arms of any kind without a license was a 
dead letter, except in some cases where the freedmen would 
go around plantations hunting, with apparently no other 
occupation. Such a person would be suspected of hunting 
that which did not belong to him and the arms would be 
taken away from him." ^ The statute upon which this pro- 

' See comment of John Wallace, an intelligent Florida negro, in his 
Carpet-bag Rule, pp. 35-36 : " It is true that some of the laws passed 
by the Legislature of 1865 seem to be very diabolical and oppressive 
to the freedmen but . . . many of the laws we know now were passed 
to deter the freedmen from committing crime. . . . The law regard- 
ing contracts between whites and freedmen was taken advantage of 
by some of the whites and the freedmen did not get justice. But 
the great majority of whites carried out their contracts to the letter 
and the freedmen did as well as could be expected under the changed 
conditions." For contradictory evidence see testimony of Hobbs, 
Supt. Negro Schools, H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, pt. 4, pp. 8-9. 

' N. Y. Times, June 8 and 25, 1866, letters of Benj. Truman from 
Florida. N. Y. World, A-Iay 31, 1866, letter of Russell. Some of the 
negro women now refused to go into the fields because such was not 
the custom of " white ladies ". Russell remarks that the black was 
"very imitative". See also evidence of Truman before Reconstruciion 
Committee, Washington, April 5, 1866, H. Rpts., 39th C. ist S., no. 
30, pt. 4, pp. 136-140. 

' Wallace, op. cit., pp. 35-36. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 423 

hibition rested was pronounced by the Conservative state 
attorney-general unconstitutional. The governor upheld 
him, the assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau 
insisted upon the repudiation of the law/ and the statute 
became practically a dead letter. 

However, written contracts according to law were en- 
tered into, negro children were apprenticed, vagrants were 
apprehended and lodged in jail or put to labor in the fields, 
and the Freedmen's Bureau was aided by probate courts 
in settling the marital difficulties of negroes. 

It is undeniable that these laws put the black in a posi- 
tion inferior to the white. That was in part their object. 
" White citizens would resist any legislation that would ap- 
pear to put freedmen on equality with whites," stated a 
Pennsylvanian in 1866, who was at the time superintendent 
of negro schools for Florida." His conclusion was not un- 
founded on fact. But this inferiority did not put the negro 
at the mercy of the white man — unless there was deliberate 
and criminal collusion between oppressor and the courts of 
justice. The inferior position of the black made it impos- 
sible for him to bring political pressure to bear upon the 
personnel of the courts, which were entirely in the hands of 
the other race. 

Florida's Black Code, as a part of Southern legislation 
on the negro during 1865-66, hurt the cause of the Conser- 
vatives in the nation.^ The cry was raised so vehemently 
at the North that the negro was being re-enslaved with 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 40, passim. 

* N. Y. Evening Post, March 16, 1866, letter of L. M. Hobbs to Presi- 
dent of N. Y. Freedmen's Relief Association. This is in substance 
corroborated by Hobbs' testimony before the Reconstruction Com- 
mittee, H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, pt. 4, pp. 7-1 1. 

•'' See Dunning, Reconst. Polit. and Econ.; Rhodes, U. S., v. 5. Cox 
in his Three Decades of Legislation says of the passage of these laws, 
" Thus was Florida launched on a sea of trouble ". 



424 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

malicious and cunning intent by the ex-Confederate element 
South that the query naturally arises — to what extent was 
the accusation true? What was the spirit back of these 
laws? We have reviewed briefly their letter and have seen 
that their execution was not drastic. 

Speaking for Florida as well as for the entire South, it 
should be observed that at least three fairly distinct opinions 
have been pronounced. Those hostile to Southern institu- 
tions declare that the " Black Codes " were deliberate and 
diabolical attempts to remand the negro back to slavery by 
means of legal subterfuge, in defiance of the results of the 
war. Those persons of considerable Southern bias are inclined 
either to express no opinion at all or to place the laws 
among the genuinely good and wise codes produced by a 
kindly interest in the future welfare — spiritual, moral, and 
physical — of the ex-slave. Those persons of harder nature, 
harder heads, perhaps, and more coolly-distant viewpoint 
pronounce them cold-blooded but not diabolical attempts to 
bring economic and social order out of semi-chaos in order 
that life might be safer, saner, and more settled. They see 
no conscious attempts to contradict the results of the war 
or to persecute the negro. 

Actual conditions and not sentimental vindictiveness pro- 
duced the Black Codes. It is worth while to consider the 
following facts in explaining the evolution of this legisla- 
tion in Florida. The Federal military commander for 
Florida in July, 1865 — six months before the meeting of 
the legislature that enacted the "Black Code" — had issued 
orders " To preserve order, to diminish the evils of va- 
grancy, and to provide for the well-being of the commu- 
nity ". Negroes were domiciled by these orders with 
former masters. The whites were required to support the 
aged, the infirm, and young children — the latter practically 
as apprentices. Blacks who disregarded contracts would be 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 425 

punished by the military.^ On August nth, elaborate mar- 
riage rules had been issued by the Federal military for the 
Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to 
force domestic regularity and responsibility upon the negro." 

A study of the legislation on the race question in Florida 
during this period — and of the efforts to apply the laws — 
induces the conclusion that the ultimate goal in theory and 
the limited effect in reality was to put the state much in the 
place of the former master — to socialize, as it were, the 
control of a class through the courts and officers of the law; 
but at the same time to give the negro vastly greater per- 
sonal freedom than formerly. The Black Codes are a 
sadly late suggestion of what might have been accomplished 
without the hell of four years' devastating war. At the 
same time they then constituted a cause and a hint of com- 
ing trouble. 

Did fear of negro insurrection influence the legislature? 
We have the record of that body and the drift of current 
opinion on which to construct an answer to any such query. 

^ Order no. 9, July 3, 1865, of Gen. Newton, N. Y. Times, Aug. i, 
1865. This was modified later. Circular no. 8, Oct. ro, 1865, from 
the War Department, stated that " officers and agents of this Bureau 
are regarded as guardians of orphans and abandoned minors of 
freedmen within their respective districts, and state laws with regard to 
apprenticeship will be recognized as long as they make no distinction on 
account of color " ; and that children might be apprenticed to " some 
good trade. . . . The binding of an apprentice shall be before the 
county court and recorded as provided by law." H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 
1st S., no. 70, p. 56. These instructions also dealt with paupers, 
vagrants, and criminals in a positive spirit. 

* Ibid., pp. 108-111, Gen. Order no. 8. These orders authorized civil 
officers and religious organizations to issue marriage permits for 50 
cents each, to perform the ceremony and issue the certificate for 
$1 each, and to dissolve marriages according to certain rules set 
down. The rules also attempted to regulate the position of a hus- 
band with more than one wife and more than one set of children, 
and to provide for the destitute children. 



426 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The resolutions of the legislature calling upon the gov- 
ernor to " use his utmost endeavors to put the state in a 
complete state of defense against any insurrectionary move- 
ment of any source whatever ; ^ the direct and repeated 
references in the laws to possible " insurrection among a 
certain portion of the population " ; the severe penalty for 
" inciting insurrection " ; the penalty for raising a military 
force without authority from the state; ^ the forbidding of 
the blacks to carry firearms;^ the prior warning of the 
constitutional convention that " we have a duty to perform 
in the protection of our women and children, etc.'' ; and the 
current reports of what the negroes might do if land and 
mules were not given them * — all indicate that there existed 
a feeling of vague fear among the whites. 

Throughout the state during 1866 affairs moved along 
amid some vague talk of race war and some disorder. ° 
May I2th, the jurisdiction of the courts was provisionally 
restored in all cases.® In Fernandina, Jacksonville, St. 

1 Ibid., Resolution 17, Jan. 3. 

' Ibid., chap. 14&6, Jan. 15. * Ibid., chap. 1466. 

* For instance, see speech of Marvin, A'^. Y. Daily News, Oct. 27, 
1865; N. Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1865 (statement of Truman); Floridian, 
Aug. 30, Sept. 3, Sept. 17, 1865. 

^ A'^. Y. Times, July 27, 1866, Florida letter, " agriculture in a flour- 
ishing condition, etc." N. Y. Times, March 15, June 8, June 15, 1866, 
Florida letters. Truman reported " very little crime such as robbery, 
grand larceny, murder, etc." N. Y. World, July — , 1866 (Town- 
send Library, v. 6, p. 206) ; A''. Y. Evening Post, Oct. 20, 1866 ; H. Ex. 
Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70; 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57. 

'Governor's Proclamation, Florida Union, May 12, 1866; see also 
A''. Y. Times, May 21. 1866. The President declared the v^rar " at an 
end" on April 2 (McPherson, Reconstruction, pp. 15-16). This did 
not restore civil authority in Florida. Martial law was suspended 
at the discretion of the military commander. For example, see order 
of U. S. Marshal Crippen (negro) at Fernandina to justices of peace 
threatening them with the military, Fla. Union, May 26, 1866. Later 
several counties were remanded to martial law completely. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 427 

Augustine and a half-dozen other locahties ex-Confed- 
erates and " Union men " quarreled over confiscated prop- 
erty.^ In Jacksonville and Fernandina blacks and whites 
came near serious collision over trifling differences.^ Es- 
cambia, Santa Rosa, Levy, Madison and Alachua Counties 
were remanded back to martial law because of alleged law- 
lessness. In Quincy (Gadsden County) a deputy sherifif 
and three white men were shot from ambush one June 
night by some negro cotton theives whom they sought to 
arrest after a jail delivery.'' Near Tampa bay the members 
of an " armed band " were reported amusing themselves 
by forcing " Union men " to pay for cattle taken by Union 
troops during the war.* In Tallahassee " a party of col- 
ored persons armed with various weapons" collected before 
the white Methodist Church " and upon being accosted by 
the marshal of the city and other citizens, fired at the citi- 
zens with guns and pistols ".^ In Leon County the negroes, 
believing that they had been enfranchised, elected a mulatto, 

1 Florida Union, May 5 and 26, 1866. A^. Y. Herald, June 2, 1866. 
N. Y. World, May 31, 1866. Senator Sprague, of Rhode Island, was 
reported to be a heavy buyer of confiscated property in and near Fer- 
nandina. The sale of property confiscated in Florida from April i, 
1865, to Feb. I, 1866, was computed by Secretary of Treasury at $29,- 
271.12, H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 47. 

' A^. Y. Tribune, June 7; N. Y. World, May 31, 1866. Negroes occu- 
pied abandoned and confiscated property. Former owners attempted 
to get physical possession again. The negroes under the encourage- 
ment of "newcomers" resisted by force attempts to oust them. In 
Jacksonville the younger white men were inclined to show the blacks 
"what was what". A race war was feared. See also // Ex. Docs., 
40th C, 2nd S., no. 57. 

'A''. Y. Times, June 25, 1866, letter of Benj. Truman. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, p. 89. Rpt. of Gen. Sprague 
(U. S. A.). 

•Towns and Watkins vs. City of Tallahassee, Fla. Rpts.. v. 11, pp. 
130-134. 



428 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Joe Oats, to represent them in Congress. He left Talla- 
hassee with the cash given him by his poverty-stricken and 
enthusiastic constituents, spent it somewhere (probably in 
the neighboring state of Georgia), and then returned and 
told with frank dishonesty to an assembled host of blacks 
what he had done for them " at Washington ".^ 

January 15th, 1866, the legislature declared that Florida 
had fully complied with all the requirements contained in 
the President's plan of reconstruction and therefore was 
entitled to all the rights and privileges of a state in the 
Union.^ But the " President's plan " was not that of a 
powerful element in Congress, and Mr. Johnson was at 
that moment well launched on his desperate and memorable 
fight with a Radical Congress. He vetoed the Freedmen's 
Bureau Bill on February 19th.' On March 2nd the Senate 
adopted resolutions previously passed by the House for- 
bidding the admission to Congress of representatives from 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 38-39. Joe Oats was a carpenter by trade, a 

former slave of Governor Walker. He could read and write and 
before being set free had hired himself from his master. " Several 
hundred dollars were raised," says Wallace, " and given to Oats, who 
shortly afterwards was off to Congress. He remained away from 
Tallahassee until his money was gone, when he wrote back designating 
the time and place he would return. Oats notified them that if they 
desired to know what he had done for them while in Congress they 
must prepare to meet him, as the whites would kill him when they 
learned what he had accomplished against them. The 20th of May, 
the day on which Gen. McCook marched his troops into Tallahassee, 
was set apart for Oats to tell the freedmen what he had accomplished 
in Congress. At 9 o'clock on that memorable 20' h of May the drums 
commenced beating and the freedmen to the number of two or three 
thousand formed in line and marched to Oats' dwelling and sent a 
committee armed with old cavalry swords and pistols to escort Oats 
to the place of destination." 

^ Laws of Fla., 14th Assembly, Resolution 12. 

' McPherson, Reconstruction, pp. 68-72. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



429 



the South/ On March 27th, the Civil Rights Bill was 
vetoed by the President." The Senate passed the Bill over 
his veto April 6th and the House on the 9th. ^ In July, a 
bill continuing the Freedmen's Bureau for two years was 
passed over the President's veto.* " At Washington the 
Radicals were in full hue and cry against the President, 
especially since his Washington's Birthday pronunciamento, 
and he was too old a campaigner to shrink from a fair and 
square fight for his ideas." ^ 

Florida felt the effects of the national political embroglio. 
The outcome of the contest between the President and Con- 
gress was of vital importance for the state. Resolutions of 
the legislature and messages from the governor indicated 
solidarity in favor of Johnson and against Congressional 
Radicalism.'' The senators-elect from Florida — ex-Gover- 
nor Marvin and Wilkinson Call, a Florida Unionist and an 
ex-Confederate respectively — were refused admission to 
the United States Senate. When Senator Doolittle pre- 
sented Marvin's credentials (July 19th), Charles Sumner 
arose and vehemently offered opposition. He took occa- 
sion bitterly to review what he considered the shocking con- 
ditions in Florida. He insisted that no decent government 
could exist there while the negro was refused the elective 
franchise. The motion to admit Marvin was laid on the 
table and not taken up again.'' 

1 McPherson, Reconstruction, p. 72. 

2 Ihid., pp. 74-78. 
""Ibid., pp. 80-81. 

*Ibid., pp. 147-151, July 16. 

•'' Dunning, Reconst. Polit. and Econ., pp. 62-68. 

• Laws of Florida, 14th Assembly, Resolution 12 ; N. Y. Times, May 
21, 1866. 

''Cong. Globe, 39th C, ist S. (1865-6), pt. i, p. 313. See also N. Y. 



430 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The supremacy of civil law was never fully realized dur- 
ing Governor Walker's administration — February, 1866, 
to March, 1867. On April 27th (1866), General Foster, 
the Federal commander of the District of Florida, an- 
nounced that the President's proclamation of April 2nd, 
which declared the " insurrection " at an end,^ did not re- 
move martial law. He ordered that all persons under mili- 
tary arrest be turned over to the civil authorities, except 
members of the Federal army. He further directed that all 
post commanders in Florida make no arrests in future on 
their own responsibility, " except in the absence of the 
proper civil authorities or upon their neglect or refusal to 
do their duty." " This meant that the state government 
was to operate with the sufferance of the Federal military. 
Foster left no doubt as to this. " Should any case arise," 
he announced, " where a citizen believes that he has not 
received justice at the hands of the civil authorities, he 
may make appeal with the papers in the case to these head- 
quarters " [military].'^ 

Alarming reports came from several localities to the 
effect that Union men were being persecuted by their ex- 
Confederate neighbors. Stories of rapine, murder, and 
robbery were garnered up, exaggerated, sometimes fabri- 
cated to suit the occasion, and then sent to military head- 
quarters or the Congressional Reconstruction Committee 
in Washington. " Every other house almost is a drinking 

Herald, Jan. 20, 1866; iV. Y. IVorld, Jan. 4, 1866 (editorial comment 
on Sumner's speech); Storey's Charles Sutnner, pp. 309-310; Mc- 
Pherson, Political Manual, 1866, pp. 107-108. Marvin and Call had 
been elected to the U. S. Senate against Generals Finley and Anderson, 
two well-known Confederate leaders. 

* McPherson, Reconstruction, pp. 15-17. 

* Gen. Ord. no. 28, H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, p. 9. 

* Gen. Ord. no. 28. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



431 



saloon and there is fighting in every direction," testified a 
man from Florida before this committee/ Early in June 
(1866), General Foster ordered all civil officers in Escam- 
bia, Levy, Madison, Santa Rosa, and Alachua Counties to 
be arrested and held in custody by the military till the per- 
sons accused of murdering or having attempted to murder 
Union men and Federal soldiers should be punished.^ 
For the remaining months of Conservative rule these coun- 
ties were nominally under complete martial law. 

" The more I observe the more I am convinced that the 
presence of a military force will be absolutely necessary for 
at least one or two years more, if not for a longer period," 
complacently stated General Foster in July, 1866. " With- 
out this military control the condition of the colored people 
will be nearly as bad as in the days of slavery, and many 
ex-officers and Northern men now settling and investing 
capital in this state will be forced to abandon their enter- 
prise and leave." ^ 

A member of the Reconstruction Committee demanded 
of a witness, " What protection would there be for the col- 
ored people if the troops were withdrawn entirely from the 
state [Florida] ? " " In the only portion I have any knowl- 
edge of there would be no difficulty," was the reply, " be- 
cause there would be a sufficient number of colored people 
to thrash them [Southern whites] out with a good com- 
mander. Were there not a majority of them [negroes] 
their condition would be very bad." * 

^ H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. 5. 

' Gen. Ords. no. 34, June 9, 1866, H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 
57, p. II. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, pp. 12-13. Gen. Foster was the 
commanding officer in the sub-district of Florida. 

* H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. 4. Testimony of J. W. Ricks 
before Reconstruction Committee, Jan., 1866. 



432 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Although the Federal military never relinquished during 
Walker's administration its right to interfere at pleasure 
in the execution of state law, yet the civil officers and courts 
steadily acquired greater freedom. The President's procla- 
mation of August 20th, 1866, declared that " Civil author- 
ity " existed throughout the whole of the United States. 
General Foster in Florida requested an interpretation of 
this proclamation. " Does it restore the privilege of the 
writ of Habeas Corpus f " he asked. " Does it abolish the 
supremacy of martial law?" 

A sharp conflict of authority had occurred in Tallahassee. 
The civil authorities there and over the state generally were 
becoming restive. Several Federal soldiers had been ar- 
rested in Tallahassee and lodged in jail, charged with disor- 
derly conduct. Foster ordered their release. His orders 
were obeyed. On November ist, the Adjutant-General at 
Washington directed him to refrain from interfering with 
the civil government except where state law conflicted with 
Federal law. He was to be the judge of any such conflict. 
The first duty of the Federal military in Florida was con- 
ceived to be the protection of life and property. Demands 
came to Congress from Florida that greater Federal pro- 
tection be extended the negro and the " truly loyal " white 
there. 

The passage of the Civil Rights Bill by Congress in 
March, 1866, was meant to extend through the civil law 
this desired Federal protection. Primarily it was " de- 
signed to secure to the freedmen through the normal action 
of the courts " the same protection against discriminating 
state legislation that was secured in the Freedmen's Bureau 
courts. 

Its enactment was closely watched and sharply com- 
mented on in Florida. The small town politician, the idle 
whittler, the planter, the lawyer, the doctor, and the 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



433 



preacher all co-operated with the editors of the weekly 
newspapers in expounding the true character of the Fed- 
eral Civil Rights Act. Some professed to see in it an at- 
tempt to give suffrage to the negro. ^ Others gave it less 
political interpretation. Practically all condemned it as 
a revolutionary and pernicious piece of legislation. 

It was not vigorously enforced in Florida. The Civil 
Rights commissioners were never appointed, and the Fed- 
eral courts did not exert themselves to set the law in oper- 
ation.^ Its principal effect was to restrain the state courts 
from a too rigid enforcement of the Black Code. For 
instance, when the assistant commissioner of the Freed- 
men's Bureau threatened trouble under the Civil Rights 
Act the Conservative attorney-general and the governor 
united in repudiating the statute forbidding blacks to carry 
firearms, because " it was not in conformity with the con- 
stitution " which stipulated that all free inhabitants should 
enjoy the same rights of person and property.^ Local 
tribunals thereupon hesitated to enforce this necessary state 
law. Would the entire Black Code — the labor contract 
law, the apprentice law, the vagrancy law, the marriage 
law, the negro school law, etc. — come into conflict with the 
Federal Civil Rights Law and become inoperative by the 
ruling of Federal courts backed by Federal troops? Such 
a possibility was before the people of Florida at this time. 

LTnion-Republicans and Conservatives in Florida were re- 
sponsive to the contest over the Southern question then 
going on in the nation at large. A meeting to organize 
the " Union Party " was held in Tampa late in April — and 
there it was proposed to send a delegation to Washington 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 57, p. 10. 
~ Ibid., pp. 14, 16. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 40. For the provision in the Con- 
stitution of 1865 see H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. 30, art. 16. 



434 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

to present to Congress the " real sentiment " of the " loyal 
men " of Florida. The resolutions called upon all citizens 
to give their support to those men who during the late war 
had been "loyal" to the Union, and to repudiate completely 
the " ex-Confederate " class.^ 

On receiving news that a national convention of Conser- 
vatives would meet in Philadelphia in August, Governor 
Walker appointed a delegation to represent the state. The 
delegation included ex-slave-holders, ex-Confederates, Flor- 
ida loyalists, and one officer of the Federal army.^ This 
was a fairly representative body. All were counted Conser- 
vatives, although their party affiliations were various. 
They took their part in the Johnson convention which met 
in Philadelphia on the 14th of August.^ 

' Florida Union, May S and 17, 1866. The central committee ap- 
pointed at this meeting consisted of C. R. Mobley, W. A. Linly, and W. 
Mansell, of Tampa; G. B. Allen, of Key West; O. B. Hart (future 
Rep. Governor), of Jacksonville; Capt. Galloway (U. S. A.), of Pen- 
sacola, and J. W. Culpepper, of Jasper. It was proposed to send Hart 
to Washington. The chief Radical newspaper in Florida at the time 
was the Jacksonville Times, W. H. Christie, editor. Christie was an 
active politician. See his editorial on the local political situation May 
22, 1866. 

^Florida Times, July 26, 1866; A^ Y. World, July 31 (?), 1866. 
(Townsend Library, v. 67, p. 206.) The delega'es were appointed with 
some respect to the established sections of Florida. West Florida: 
Benj. D. Wright, O. M. Avery, Geo. Walker, Geo. S. Hawkins, F. F. 
Pittman, J. L. Dunham ; Middle Florida : J. B. Love, Robt. Davidson, 
Wilk. Call, J. L. McKibben (U. S. Army), Geo. W. Scott, R. H. 
Gamble, M. D. Papy, Thos. Randall, A. Hopkins ; East Florida : F. 
McLeod, T. O. Holmes, J. B. Dawkins, M. Solano, J. S. Maxwell; 
South Florida : Wm. Marvin, W. C. Maloney, and J. Gettis. 

' For the part taken by the Florida representatives see N. Y. Times, 
Aug. 15, 1866; N. y. Herald, Aug. 15 and 17, 1866; N. Y. World, Aug. 
16, 1866. Jas. B. Dawkins was on the Conven' ion's Committee on 
Organization; Judge Thomas Randall was a vice-president; Benj. D. 
Wright was a secretary ; and Marvin and Call were on the Committee 
on Resolutions and Addresses, and Call was on the National Union Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



435 



Not to be outdone by Conservatives the local Radical 
leaders came together in Tallahassee on August 22nd and 
appointed a delegation for the Loyalists' convention in 
Philadelphia, September 3rd. The delegates were new ar- 
rivals in the state or new politicians among the natives/ 
All were white. They attended the Philadelphia meeting 
and with the others made a demonstration for Congress." 

Governor Walker, cognizant of the bitter contest cen- 
tering in Washington, had counseled all in Florida to stand 
by the President and " show by the beauty of their lives " 
that Radical accusation of bad purpose in the South was 
false.^ Radicals were not then looking for beautiful lives 
in politics and it is doubtful if they would have recorded 
truthfully the fact had they found any in Florida. 

The year 1866 drew to a close. A short cotton crop, 
due to causes beyond the control of man, hurt business in 
the South and cast discredit upon the labor contract system. 
Bureau agents divided grudgingly the control of the negro 
with local judges, justices of the peace, and employers. The 
legislature met and went through its usual routine of pass- 
ing necessary and unnecessary laws — depending on the 
point of view — but the Black Code was not added to. The 
problem of Conservative rule seemed on the surface to be 
solving itself. 

In November the governor transmitted to the legislature 
the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the United States 
constitution, with the recommendation that it be not 
ratified.* He declared that it would tend to change en- 

' A''. Y. Tribune, Sept. 3, 1866. 

*N. Y. Herald, Sept. 4, 1866; N. Y. Times, Sept. 5, 1866. O. B. 
Hart was one of the vice-presidents. Fraser and Robinson occupied 
committee positions. 

» A^. Y. Times, May 21, 1866. 
*An. Cyclo., 1866. 



436 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tirely by undue consolidation the character of the national 
government/ 

This measure combined two clearly distinguishable parts. 
I, It proposed to transfer to the Federal government the 
guardianship of the individual citizen's civil rights and thus 
to place the Civil Rights Act, passed in March, beyond the 
reach of the Federal Courts. The real object was to take 
out of the hands of Southern electors the power to decide 
what were or were not the civil rights of the black as a free 
man. 2, It sought to base representation in the national 
Congress not upon population per se, but upon voting popu- 
lation. 

" The number of representatives due to a state is ex- 
pressly made to depend [in the Constitution] on its popula- 
tion," stated Governor Walker, *' while it is expressly re- 
mitted to the state's own discretion to say who among its 
citizens shall constitute the voters and electors." He would 
have representation remain " as our fathers fixed it, on the 
census and not the suffrage." Taking up the section of the 
proposed amendment which would disfranchise all who 
" engaged in rebellion " after having taken the oath to 
support the Constitution of the United States, he de- 
clared it unjust because it sought to punish a certain class 
of citizens not more guilty than others. " Look around you 
and see how many persons will be left in office after this 
amendment is adopted," he said. " Most of the persons 
thus to be punished have already been pardoned by the 
President. I hold that no power on earth can justly go 
behind the President's pardon." ^ 

The governor with pardonable fatuity would not ac- 

* For opinions of conservative Florida press on proposed Amend- 
ment, consistently condemnatory, see Lake City Press, Oct. 13, 1866; 
Tallahassee Flortdian, Oct. 15, 1866; Jacksonville Union, Oct. 13, 1866. 

• Message in N. Y. Times. Nov. 22, 1866. 



THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATIVE RULE 



437 



knowledge that the nation was no longer moving " as our 
fathers fixed it ". Congress was vindictively engaged in 
being progressive by following out policies springing from 
a revolution in American constitutional ideas. The pro- 
posed amendment was a political measure meant not only 
to protect the black but also to help clinch negro suffrage 
upon the South, to suppress the natural leaders of the 
Southern people, and thus to strengthen the grip of the 
national Union-Republican machine. 

The senate and house committees concurred in the gov- 
ernor's recommendation, and both upper and lower cham- 
bers by unanimous vote refused to pass the bill ^ — Decem- 
ber 1st and 3rd, 1866. 

" We are willing to make any organic changes of a thor- 
oughly general character and which do not totally destroy 
the nature of the Government," stated the assembly in re- 
fusing to ratify the proposed amendment. 

On the other hand, we will bear any ill before we will pro- 
nounce our own dishonor. We will be taxed without repre- 
sentation ; we will quietly endure the government of the bay- 
onet ; we will see and submit to the threatened fire and sword 
and destruction, but we will not bring as a peace oflfering the 
conclusive evidence of our own self-created degradation.- 

Winter came upon the land, with its somber color and 
sad change. Men discussed politics and eagerly speculated 
on the result of the contest at Washington between Execu- 
tive and Congress. The time had nearly arrived when the 
experience of a worse reconstruction was to begin for the 
unfortunate commonwealths of the South. 

* Floridian, Jan. 25, 1867. Flack, Adoption of the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment, pp. 193-4. 
'An. Cyclo., 1866. 



CHAPTER XVII 

The Beginning of Radical Reconstruction 

The swift and passionate rejection of the proposed Four- 
teenth Amendment by Southern legislatures irritated the 
North and strengthened the Radicals in Congress. Yet it 
is extremely doubtful if this rejection had decisive effect 
upon the political destinies of Florida or any other South- 
ern state, for the reorganized Southern governments were 
already condemned by powerful politicians in the domi- 
nant national party ere this new evidence of Southern way- 
wardness was manifested. Furthermore, the rejection of 
the proposed amendment did not cause Union-Republicans 
North to desire negro enfranchisement South and the elimi- 
nation of the old native white leaders South. They de- 
sired these things before the Fourteenth Amendment was 
voted down. In fact the amendment was proposed in order 
that these twin desires might be attained. Any other inter- 
pretation of the situation in light of present knowledge is 
fantastic. 

Radical reconstruction was inevitable after the spring 
of 1866 — probably inevitable from the hour Lincoln passed 
away. Andrew Johnson succeeded to the place and policy 
of Lincoln but not to that leader's popularity or power. 
The record of national politics during 1866 clearly indi- 
cated that on the Southern question — which was the burn- 
ing question then confronting the nation — the new Presi- 
dent had no influence over Congress, except possibly a bad 
influence. In the legislative branch of the national govern- 
438 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 



439 



merit a hostile majority was sufficiently strong ere the 
summer of 1866 to override constitutionally the opposition 
or restraint which the Executive attempted by veto; and 
this majority was well organized in both the Senate and the 
House. It was aggressively hostile toward Mr. Johnson 
personally, and toward his reconstruction policy South it 
was positively vindictive. Under the leadership of such men 
as Thaddeus Stevens in the House and Charles Sumner 
in the Senate, the faction of the Union-Republican party 
opposed to the President was committed to a plan of recon- 
struction drastically different from the executive plan in- 
herited from Lincoln and then in process of operation. 

For more than a year the nation had been at peace ; and 
yet the one-time Confederate states, with the exception of 
Tennessee, were still out of the Union as far as participa- 
tion in the general government was concerned. Congress 
would keep them out till it worked its will. " Our present 
relations with the general government afe certainly of a 
strange character," declared the lower house of the Flor- 
ida legislature in commenting on the situation. 

We are denied representation even when we elect a man who 
has never in fact sympathized with armed resistance to the 
United States, and who can in good faith take the oath. We 
are at the same time subject to the most onerous taxation; 
the civil law of the State is enforced and obeyed only vv^hen it 
meets the approval of the local commanders of the troops of 
the United States ; the Congress of the United States enacts 
laws making certain lands subject to entry at a small cost by 
the colored portion of our population and denies the like privi- 
lege to the white man by restrictions amounting to a prohibi- 
tion. We are, in fact, recognized as a State for the single 
and sole purpose of working out our destruction and dis- 
honor.^ 

' An. Cvclo., 1866. 



440 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

However much the critic might condemn the pitiless and 
unscrupulous political warfare which the Radical party 
began to carry on in 1866 against the whites of the South- 
ern states, he must acknowledge the positive strength, the 
acuteness, the sureness with which the leaders of Recon- 
struction Radicalism carried forward their policy, step by 
step, disregarding and adding to the written constitution, 
disregarding precedent, disregarding often honesty, and or- 
dinary decency in political practice. If oneness of aim is 
a good thing in itself, then there is much good even from a 
hostile viewpoint in the Reconstruction record of Congress. 
It was positive and consistent in at least one important 
respect — in adhering to the principle that practically the 
end justified the means. The end was the capture of the 
South for the Radical party. The Conservatives there 
were suspected of being disloyal. 

On December 13th, 1865, the Federal Senate and 
House concurred in appointing a " joint committee to 
inquire into the condition of the states which formed 
the so-called Confederate States." ^ This action laid the 
foundation for that Congressional program which cul- 
minated in the Reconstruction laws of 1867. The main 
committee was divided into sub-committees for the purpose 
of more expeditiously obtaining information. Senator 
Williams, of Oregon, and Representatives Washburne, of 
Illinois, and Rogers, of New Jersey, collected evidence 
bearing on political conditions and popular sentiment in 
Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Only three persons from 
Florida testified before the " Reconstruction Committee ". 
They were J. W. Recks, collector of customs at Pensacola 
— lately from the North ; Wm. H. Marvin, provisional gov- 
ernor of Florida; and the Reverend L. M. Hobbs, state 

1 H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. i. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 441 

superintendent of Freedmen schools and one-time chaplain 
in the Union army. Marvin's testimony was so sane and so 
fair to the white people of Florida that he was allowed to 
depart without finishing what he had to say. Recks and 
Hobbs were examined at length. They had evil things to 
say about their neighbors. 

" What do you find to be the present temper and spirit 
of the people of Florida to the general government," was 
asked of Hobbs, February 28th. 1866. 

Ans. : " It is bitter ; much more so now than it was three or 
four months ago. . . . They talk treason in the streets without 
any concealment." 

Ques. : " How do you explain this change that has taken 
place in their feelings, or expressions of them?" 

Ans. : " I consider it because of the leniency manifested by 
the present administration ; first, in extending the privilege of 
amnesty, and second, in re-establishing the civil government, 
throwing the afifairs of the State, the administration of the 
law, in the hands of probate and circuit judges, leaving the 
military to have control only of some cases where capital pun- 
ishment, or some punishment of that kind, can be inflicted ; 
also the general opposition that has grown up within the last 
three months to the negro having civil rights, the right of 
sufTrage, etc." ^ 

A month earlier, January 22d, 1866, Recks had given his 
views to the committee. " Have you noticed any change in 
the sentiments and feelings of the people since you com- 
menced to reside in Florida? " he was asked. 

Ans. : " No material change that I know of for the better. 
. . . They have a bitter aversion to what they term the 
Yankee — that is, a Union man ; it does not matter whether he 
comes from the extreme east or extreme west, if he is true 

^ H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. 8. 



442 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

to his adherence to the national government. They have 
treated me with a great deal of courtesy, but at the same time 
in this inherent spirit." 

Ques. : " Were you there at the time that the Legislature 
were elected ?" 

Ans. : " Yes, sir." 

Ques. : " State, as far as you know them, what side they 
took in the rebellion." 

Ans. : " They were rebels during the war, in the Confeder- 
ate service, some of them, I think, with the rank of Captain, 
and at heart to-day they are as good rebels as they ever were." 

Ques. : " Have you heard the question of negro suffrage dis- 
cussed there among the people ?" 

Ans. : *' I have. They perfectly abhor negro suffrage." 

Ques. : " From your knowledge and observation of that 
country, what is necessary to be done in order properly and 
fairly to reconstruct the State in justice to the State and the 
Union?" 

Ans. : " My policy may, perhaps, be a little too severe. I 
would pin them down at the point of the bayonet so close that 
they would not have room to wiggle and allow intelligent 
colored people to go up and vote in preference to them." ^ 

Radicals in Florida wrote many letters to Radicals 
out of Florida describing atrocities against negroes 
and Union men and expressing positive judgment on 
the " spirit " of their Southern neighbors. Southern 
whites w^ho refused to become Radicals were accused 
of being disloyal at heart. Charles Sumner was the eager 
recipient of stich epistles, which he took occasion to 
give wide publicity. The commanders of Federal troops 
stationed throughout the South watched for evidences of 
disloyalty and through the regular reports became an in- 
formation bureau for Radical leaders in Washington. 

^ H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, pt. 4, pp. 1-5. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 



443 



Colonel Sprague, commanding in Jacksonville, reported 
on April 30th, 1866, that the conduct of the people within 
his jurisdiction " toward the general government is pacific 
from necessity but their feelings are strong and revenge- 
ful ".^ The following day, May ist, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Flint, post commander at Tallahassee, reported : " I believe 
that Union citizens cannot freely express their love or ad- 
miration for our country or government and approval of 
the policy adopted without incurring the displeasure and 
sometimes the actual enmity of their neighbors, the South- 
ern people." ^ On July 17th, Lieutenant Grossman, post 
commander at Lake City, reported that, " the 4th of July 
passed without the slightest attempt on the part of citizens 
of this vicinity to celebrate the day," ^ while on August 
28th, Flint reported : " The temper of the people remains 
as previously reported, as far as can be judged. The only 
report received since the 15th (that from Cedar Keys) ex- 
presses the belief that the people in that vicinity may be as 
disloyal to the government as they were three years ago. 
This may be, and probably is true of a considerable class of 
the community not only in Cedar Keys but throughout the 
State." ■* On September 20tb. Brig^adier-General Foster, in 
command of the entire " District of Florida," reported : 
" The state of feeling toward the government and Union 
and Northern men has not improved since my last report 
and there have been indications that the old, bitter feeling 
engendered by the war still rankles in the hearts of the old 
secessionists, and that it will find vent as soon as a favor- 
able opportunity offers." ^ Such reports and opinions as 
the foregoing came thick and fast from every Southern 

' H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 56, p. 91. 

» Ibid., p. 78. ' Ibid., p. 84. " Ibid., p. 80. 

' McPherson, Reconstruction, p. 308. 



444 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

State during 1866. As a rule, verdicts of disloyalty and 
treason were unsupported by the citation of facts, and the 
facts when cited have the peculiar flavor of lies. 

The whites of Florida were cognizant of the adverse re- 
ports concerning them. " We are passing through our 
political wilderness and are being bitten by fiery serpents," 
declared Governor Walker in commenting on the situa- 
tion.^ " Let us constantly remember," stated he in an ad- 
dress to the people, April 27th, 1866, 

that every lawless act any individual in our State may commit 
and every indiscreet expression that may be uttered is imme- 
diately exaggerated and published broadcast over the Northern 
States with a view of making it appear that the President is 
wrong and his enemies are right. We are passing through a 
fearful ordeal. The eyes of the world are upon us ; therefore 
be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. ^ 

Before the end of 1866 the Conservative leaders in 
Florida had reason to be uneasy about the state's future 
political fortunes. The existing government stood con- 
demned by Congress, and the President was unable to re- 
strain that body from doing with Florida as it saw fit. The 
Federal Supreme Court was hopefully looked up to in the 
South as a possible means for checking the career of the 
national legislature. In Florida, hopes were publicly ex- 
pressed that the court would somehow intervene. The de- 
cisions in the Test Oath cases were hailed with satisfaction 
by the most powerful newspaper in the state. ^ The effect 
of these decisions in theory was to deny the constitution- 
ality of Federal legislation which would deprive those one- 
time Confederate citizens who had returned to their alle- 

' Rerick, Memoirs of Fla., v. i, p. 300. 

* An. Cyclo., 1866. 

* Floridian, Jan. 4, 25, 1867. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 445 

giance of the rights enjoyed by all citizens of the United 
States/ 

When the full and developed program of Radical recon- 
struction was taken up in Congress for consideration — the 
" Military Bill " — the forebodings of Florida's pessimists 
in public opinion were coming perilously near realization. 
The sure tendency of Congressional policy for a year was 
now unmistakable. " Does it mean what it seems ? " ob- 
served the Floridian. " It is absurd to believe that the 
United States Supreme Court will uphold it." ^ Experi- 
ence proved that fear of what the Supreme Court might do 
exerted no appreciable control over Congress. Disregard- 
ing warnings concerning the judiciary and contemptuously, 
defiantly overriding the executive, the national legislature 
with brutal directness and great efficiency proceeded to 
draft into statute law the ideas of its leaders concerning 
what was to be considered legal and thorough reconstruc- 
tion. 

The Conservatives of Florida with sinking hearts and 
bitter feeling watched the passage of the Military Bill 
through Congress. " Taking the measure altogether it is 
about as bad as anything could be," observed the Floridian. 

Sherman's Senate Bill was bearable, since it left to the State 
the option of acting or not ; but this bill is not simply bearable, 
it is execrable. It embodies the vengeful and worst passions 
of the worst radicals in the dominant party. . . . What we 
most dread is the influx of traveling politicians and agitators 
whose mission will be to stir up strife between the races, and 
thus precipitate collision and bloodshed.^ 

1 The cases in question were : Ex Parte Milligan, Cummings vs. 
Missouri, and Ex Parte Garland, the last two being the Test Oath 
cases. Wallace, v. 4, pp. 2,. 277, 333. For criticism, see Dunning, 
Reconst. Polit. and Ec, p. 89. 

' Floridian, Jan. 15, 19, 1867. 

• Ibid., Feb. 26, 1867. 



446 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

When the " Military Bill " passed Congress over the 
President's veto, the receipt of the news in Florida brought 
forth this observation from the Floridian: 

We are placed in a sort of purgatory, neither in Heaven nor 
Hell — a kind of betweenity. But it is too grave a matter to 
jest about. It is ex post facto. It prescribes penalties for an 
offense not known when the offense was committed, and there- 
fore is legislation backward. It undertakes to make operative 
the provisions of a constitutional amendment not yet adopted.^ 

The Jacksonville Union announced : " It would be in our 
judgment a most lamentable matter to see the Southern 
States yield in despairing apathy to the crisis that is upon 
them. Their cause is the cause of constitutional govern- 
ment." - What could the people of Florida do except 
yield? They had no means to effectively oppose Congres- 
sional reconstruction. 

The first Reconstruction Act or " Military Bill " became 
law on March 2nd, 1867. This piece of legislation reduced 
ten Southern states to military appendages; virtually ab- 
rogated civil government there ; declared that " any civil 
government that may exist " in these states was " provi- 
sional only " ; grouped the ten states into five " military dis- 
tricts " ; directed the President to appoint an army officer 
not lower than a brigadier-general to command each dis- 
trict ; directed this district commander " to protect all per- 
sons in their rights of person and property, to suppress in- 
surrection, disorder, and violence " ; provided for vigorous, 
effective, and arbitrary rule through " military commis- 
sion " ; and set forth the terms upon which Congress would 
consider the admission of such a state to a share once more 

* Quotation from Floridian in A''. Y. World, Mch. 6, 1867. 
» A^. Y. World, Mch. 6, 1867. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 447 

in the national government when in the future the people 
of the state should see fit to comply with the will of Con- 
gress. These terms were in brief: i, a state constitution 
extending the suffrage to all males twenty-one years old 
and upward, irrespective of race, color, or previous con- 
dition; 2, the ratification of the 14th Amendment by the 
legislature elected under this constitution. The law ex- 
pressly excluded most Southern leaders from taking any 
part whatever, either as voter or delegate, in framing and 
adopting the constitution.^ 

On March 23rd, the Supplemental Reconstruction Law 
was enacted, providing ways and means for carrying into 
effect the first statute; namely, the division of the states into 
registration districts, the registering of voters, the manner 
of holding the elections for the constitutional conventions, 
the manner of voting on the constitutions framed, and the 
transmission of the instruments to Congress.^ These two 
laws laid the foundation certainly for ruthless political re- 
construction. That was their object, and the object was 
to be attained. 

The people of Florida took the revolution calmly. Led 
by wise counsel they accepted the inevitable with good 
grace. "Take it calmly," advised the Tallahassee Sentinel. 
" The memories of the past and the hopes of the future 
counsel a self-possessed, dignified, quiet acquiescence in the 
measure adopted for our humiliation and punishment." * 
The Quincy Commonwealth: " Plenty of time for action 
by the Southern people." * The Floridian: " It is not to be 
decided on the impulse of sentiment or the suggestion of 

' See text of act, McPherson, Reconstruction, pp. 191-2. 

* Text of act, ibid., pp. 192-4. 

' Quotation in N. Y. World, Mch. 15, 1867. 

* Quincy Commonwealth, Mch. 8, 1867. 



448 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

selfishness but it is to be met as one of the gravest issues that 
has been submitted to a people who are brave and have 
been free. We shall wait a few days until we ascertain 
how he [the President] construes the powers with which 
it [the Reconstruction Law] invests him." ^ 

The most disturbing factor in the uncertain future for the 
mass of whites in Florida was the impending fact of negro 
enfranchisement. Were the state government and the local 
governments to be delivered to the negro, backed as he was 
by the power of the United States? That was really the 
question then before the practical politician. The opinion 
of the Floridian was that there should be no apprehension 
if the Southern white began in time to assume the political 
leadership of the black. " The whites constitute the class 
from which the freedmen get their living. By acting with 
promptness and common-sense every freedmen can be made 
to vote the Conservative ticket." ^ 

Within a month after the enactment of the second Re- 
construction Law the prospective policy of Conservatives in 
Florida seemed clearly marked out. It contained two ob- 
vious principles, namely, the ready acquiescence in Con- 
gressional reconstruction, and the control of the negro 
voter by Conservative Southern whites. Ex-Senator Mal- 
lory, in a speech delivered in Pensacola (March 28th), 
strongly advised prompt submission to Congress in good 
faith.^ United States Senator-elect Call, still in Washing- 
ton waiting to be admitted to the Senate, wrote : 

In my opinion we should submit without opposition to Con- 
gress and conform to its requirements. No practical benefits 
can be gained by resistance. . . . This Congress represents the 

» A^. Y. World, Mch. 15, 1867. 

' Floridian, Mch. 29, 1867. 

» Floridian, Apr. 9, 1867 ; N. Y. Herald, Apr. 8, 1867. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 



449 



strength and will of the Northern people. . . . We should 
realize that these are questions that concern us no longer, as 
over them we have no control. ... In my judgment, the only 
thing to consider is whether we will be dragged by the chains 
of relentless destiny or whether we will be co-workers with it 
in forming and giving direction to its policy.^ 

William Archer Cooke, writing from Monticello (Jeffer- 
son County), declared that "it is absurd to look to the 
Supreme Court for redress." The negro, he said, should 
be led by the Southern whites." Ex-Governor Marvin ex- 
tended like advice in an " Address to the People of Flor- 
ida." He prophesied that the efforts of Mississippi to get 
redress from the Federal Supreme Court would prove un- 
successful. Radical leaders were powerful and popular 
in the North. Any action of the Supreme Court, he 
thought, would not control Congress. His advice to the 
whites of Florida was to give up all idea of combatting 
Congress, to organize, to obey cheerfully and quickly 
Federal law, and to make ready to lead the enfranchised 
negro.^ 

Such was the tenor of advice extended to the people by 
their best leaders in this crisis when their government was 
destroyed at the hands of Congress, when the lately en- 
slaved w^ere given equal political privilege with the late 
masters, when the natural leaders of the people were dis- 

^ Floridian, Apr. 12, 1867. * Floridian, Apr. 23, 1867. 

* Floridian, Alay 17, 1867. See also Marvin's views in issues for 
May 10 and Sept. 17. The latter contains a letter from the ex- 
governor to Dyke, editor of the Floridian. Marvin was then living 
in New York. His clear foresight is shown by this letter. He said 
that eventually it would be very bad for the blacks if they should 
combine politically as a race and form a party on the basis of color. 
They might carry the coming elections, he said, but in the end they 
would surely lose out, after antagonizing the whites not only in 
Florida but in the North as well. The truth of these views is obvious 
to-day. 



450 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

franchised. Congress succeeded in putting the " Bottom 
rail on top". And why? The preamble of the first Re- 
construction Act set forth the alleged reason. *' Whereas 
no legal state governments or adequate protection for life 
or property now exists in the rebel states," it runs, " and 
whereas it is necessary that peace and good order should be 
enforced in said states until loyal and republican state gov- 
ernments can be legally established," etc. 

Did conditions in Florida make it necessary that the 
state be subjected to the operations of such a drastic law? 
Certainly the year 1866 witnessed the sure beginning of a 
rapid and generally peaceful rehabilitation. The amount 
of lawlessness in Florida then does not seem to have been 
abnormal or particularly serious. Three factors indicate 
peace and returning prosperity: i, heavy immigration of 
poor home-seekers into Florida; 2, the presence of numer- 
ous business men from other sections of the country who 
came into Florida and invested money there; 3, the favor- 
able reports of military commanders distributed over 
Florida. These reports though damning the lack of patriot- 
ism among the whites usually closed with the statement that 
peace reigned and that the people were quietly at work. 
Would these conditions have existed then if in Florida there 
had been no " adequate protection for life or property?" 

As to immigration, both whites and blacks began to come 
into Florida during 1866. The black immigrants were 
more numerous than the whites. The East Florida Banner 
of January 2nd, 1867, stated: "A thousand freedmen have 
passed through this city during the past week on their way 
to Florida and the west." The Floridian of January nth: 
" The tide of immigration is unprecedented. . . . Nearly 
every day brings trains and wagons through our town 
[Tallahassee] from South Carolina . . . Two train-loads . . . 
from Southern and Western Georgia." The Columbia 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 451 

(S. C.) Telegraph of January 13th: " Freedmen are leav- 
ing this city in such numbers as to excite alarm. They are 
chiefly bound for Florida." The Orangeburg (S. C.) 
Times: " Many freedmen are seeking new homes in Florida 
and elsewhere." The New York Times, February 28th 
(report from Charleston, S. C.) : " Great exodus of freed- 
men. . . . 50.000 souls have left the State. . . . Some of 
the emigrants have gone to Florida." The report of Col- 
onel Sprague at Jacksonville in New York Tribune, Febru- 
ary 20th : " Freedmen are still arriving from South Caro- 
lina and Georgia seeking labor and many entering land 
under the Homestead Bill." The Federal law of June 21st, 
1866 opened for entry in 80-acre lots all national lands in 
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida. 
By October of the following year 2,012 homestead claims 
aggregating more than 160,000 acres had been entered in 
the Florida Federal land offices. The " House Committee 
on Freedmen's Affairs " reported that during this time 
more than 2,000 families acquired " homes in Florida " 
and that '' in other Southern states less progress has been 
made ".^ The comparison of census figures indicates heavy 
increase of negro population between 1860-67. The Fed- 
eral census of i860 gave the black population 62,677. The 
special state census of 1867 showed 72,666, an increase of 
sixteen per cent in seven years. 

Immigrant aid societies helped whites and blacks to 
move to Florida. The American Aid and Homestead Co. 
of New York furthered in some fashion an extensive 
scheme of two Northern business men, Hunt and Gleason. 
They sought to establish a colony in Florida for the culti- 

' H. Repts., 40th C, 2nd. S., no. 30, p. 16. 

For further information concerning negroes on Federal lands, see 
H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., no. 70, passim; 40th C, 2nd, S., no. 57, 
t>assiiu. 



452 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

vation of tropical fruits/ Gleason later became lieutenant- 
governor of the state. In June, 1866, he reported: " We 
have traveled upwards of 1,500 miles in the most unsettled 
portions of the State. . . . We were everywhere hospitably 
received. . . . An emigration from the North would be 
welcomed by a large majority of the people." ^ 

A few planters of Florida imported negro labor from 
neighboring states and gave their support to plans for bring- 
ing in white labor from Europe.^ " Florida does not want 
black but white immigrants," announced a local journal 
early in 1867. 

Bread does not grow on trees. We want our unoccupied lands 
taken up and developed by those who will cling to them, and 
not by those who will labor for a little while and then become 
paupers, vagabonds and thieves, living upon the industry of 
others, to be hunted like untamed savages. In the county in 
which we write [Leon, the most populous in Florida] there is 
comparatively a scarcity of labor. Why? Not because there 
is not labor enough, but because hundreds will not work. The 
idlers squat about the piney woods, in the towns, and by the 
roadside, and it is no injustice to say that the great majority 
of them live by killing stock and general thieving.* 

There was plenty of work at good wages in Florida,^ 
business was reviving, and the freedmen labor was not 

' Floridian, Jan. 11, 1867; A^ Y. Times, June 25, 1866. 

* TV. Y. Times, June 25, 1866. 

* Jefferson Gazette, Aug. 31, 1866, — organization "Jefferson Aid 
Assn." to assist immigration. Floridian, Jan. 4, Feb. 12, 15. May 10. 
1867, — organization and activity of " So. Land and Immigration Co." 
Laivs of Florida, 14th Assembly, passim. 

* Floridian, Feb. i, 1867. 

* Rpt. Agr. Dept., 1867-7, p. 84. Wages in Fla. were considerably 
higher than in any other Southern state east of the Miss., the average 
wage for Fla. being twelve per cent above the average for the South. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 453 

meeting the demand. " I think they [whites] would be 
pleased," stated one man, " to have them [negroes] out of 
the way and to have Chinamen coolies, or anybody else to 
do the work." ^ 

In April, 1866, Colonel Sprague reported from Jackson- 
ville : " The general condition of the country coming under 
the jurisdiction of this post is prosperous. The freedmen 
are working faithfully and industriously. There is a large 
class from the North who are seeking investments in lands 
and sawmills. The citizens belonging to the city are labor- 
ing to obtain a living and to collect what little remains of 
their property after a desolating war." ^ In June, Captain 
Smith, posted at Mellonville, reported : " Everything works 
harmoniously." ^ 

The year 1866 witnessed the revival in railroad exten- 
sion interrupted by the war. The existing roads were in 
too poor a physical condition to handle the revival in traflEic. 
The war had bankrupted all of the companies. Along with 
plans for reorganization in face of defaulted payment on 
bonds went plans for re-equipping the roads and extending 
them. " The railroad is the grand thing just ahead," stated 
a letter from Pensacola. " An outsider hearing so much 
indistinct talk about it might suppose it an accomplished 
fact." * At Marianna in West Florida a number of busi- 
ness men of that section met during February, 1867, to dis- 
cuss the projects of extending the railway from Quincy to 
the Apalachicola river and of building a road from St. An- 
drews bay north into Georgia.^ Similar meetings took 

1 H. Rpts., 39th C, 1st S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. 4. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 56, p. 91. 

* Ibid., p. 90. 

* N. y. Ev. Post (Townsend Lib., V. 71, p. 338) Pensacola letter. 
^ Floridian, Feb. 22, 1867. 



424 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

place in other parts of Florida. Such incidents are worthy 
of a place in an account of reconstruction because they in 
connection with increasing demand for labor, increasing 
immigration, and increasing land entries by home-seekers 
indicate that peaceful economic rehabilitation had begun 
before the Federal Congress turned government topsy- 
turvy in order that there might be " adequate protection " 
for life and property in Florida. 

The first Reconstruction Act was promulgated by the 
war department through general orders on March nth, 
and on the 28th the Supplemental Act was promulgated in 
similar fashion.^ The first act provided for the division 
of the South into five military districts. Florida was 
included in the " Third District ", composed of Georgia, 
Alabama, and Florida. This division, as set forth in 
the law, was formally consummated through Execu- 
tive order of March 2nd.- On March 15th, the Presi- 
dent placed Major-General John Pope in command of the 
Third District.^ On April ist. Pope began his administra- 
tion in Florida through General Orders No. i, in which he 
" merged the District of Key West " into the " District of 
Florida " and placed Colonel J. T. Sprague of the 7th In- 
fantry in command. The headquarters of the District of 
Florida (a sub-district of the third Military District) were 
established at Tallahassee.* 

" The civil officers at present will retain their offices until 
the expiration of their terms of service," announced Gen- 
eral Orders of April ist, which inaugurated military rule, 

so long as justice is impartially and faithfully administered. It 
is hoped that no necessity may arise for the interposition of 
the military authorities in the civil administration, and such 

* Sen. Ex. Docs., 40th C, ist S., no. 14. 

* Ibid., p. 5. » Ibid., p. 5. * Ibid., p. 93. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 



455 



necessity can only arise from the failure of the civil tribunals 
to protect the people, without distinction, in their rights of per- 
son and property. 

The real object in instituting this military regime was in- 
dicated by that clause of these general orders that declared : 
" It is clearly understood, however, that the civil officers 
thus retained in office shall confine themselves to the per- 
formance of their official duties and whilst holding these 
offices they shall not use any influence whatever to deter or 
dissuade the people from taking an active part in recon- 
structing their state government." 

As Florida had never thoroughly passed from under the 
guiding hand of the Federal military since the war's close, 
the transposition to military rule in the spring of 1867 did 
not cause much confusion or excitement. " In Florida 
everything is quiet," reported General Pope on April 7th.^ 
But indications of a pretty thorough-going political change 
were soon evident. The negroes of Florida under Radical 
white leaders immediately began to experiment in politics. 
On March 14th, more than a week before the passage of 
the Supplemental Bill in Washington and before Congres- 
sional reconstruction was formally inaugurated in Florida, 
some negroes of Jacksonville met in the negro Baptist 
Church, chose a ticket for the city elections, and adopted 
resolutions which began : " Resolved, That we have become 
bona-fide citizens of Florida and of the United States, that 
there is now no distinction between the white man and the 
black man in political matters," etc.^ 

^ Sen. Ex. Docs., 40th C, ist S., no. 14, p. 95. 

' Floridian. Apr. i, 1867. The election did not take place when 
scheduled. It was postponed by military order, — see Floridian, Apr. 
2, 9, 1867. In May the " City Council " chose a new mayor on the 
"advice" of Col. Sprague. Negroes did not take part in this, — 
Floridian, May 21, 1867. 



456 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

In another part of the state, Pensacola, negroes partici- 
pated in the city elections, April ist. Three days before, 
March 28th, a mass meeting of blacks and whites had taken 
place in Pensacola's plaza/ Ex-Senator Mallory, J. D. Wolf 
— an ex-officer of the Federal army — and Hayes Satterlee — 
an aged negro — had addressed the meeting. Here were 
grouped skillfully three of the fairly distinct social elements 
in Reconstruction politics : the ex-Confederate, the white 
newcomer from the North, and the negro. All the speakers 
advised amicable co-operation between the races, and ad- 
vised the blacks not to break with the Southern whites. 

But other influences were at work. Negroes were called 
together in secret meetings by Radical white leaders. The 
report was spread that if the Republican candidate won, the 
stores in town would be thrown open and all loyal men in 
town would be invited to take what they wished. This was 
a tempting prospect to any man. To most of the negroes 
it was exciting. Those near Pensacola hearing the good 
news came into town to be present when the free distribu- 
tion should take place. The Conservative ticket carried the 
election. Thereupon a mob of negroes, massed in the 
neighborhood of the town plaza, threatened disturbance. 
Federal troops were hurried from Fort Barrancas to keep 
order.^ This was a good beginning for Conservatives, but 
it was a dangerous beginning and proved to be about the 
first and last Conservative victory under military rule. 

These initial political experiences were sufficient to show 
some men the difficulty which confronted those who would 
essay to make Conservatives of the blacks. Before taking 
up the progress of the campaign another political incident 

* Pensacola Observer, Mch., 30, 1867; N. Y. Herald, Apr. 8, 1867. 

- Floridian, Apr. 9, 1867 ; A''. Y. Herald, Apr. 17, 1867 ; conversation 
of the author with Mr. Edward Anderson of Pensacola, who was a 
Conservative leader. 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 



457 



typical of these times might be mentioned. It was May 
20th, " Emancipation Day " for Florida, the day on which 
General McCook in 1863 had issued general orders an- 
nouncing freedom. At Tallahassee since an early hour 
flocks of negroes had been coming into town. By nine 
o'clock the streets were crowded. Soon a procession of 
blacks formed at the camp of the Federal troops, and with 
music booming and flags flying at its head the assembled 
host began its march down " Main Street ". First came 
the " Benevolent Societies ", then came the " Independent 
Blues ", and following, the unofficial crowd in long line. 
The managers of the parade wished only men in line but 
were unable to keep the women out. " The sisters would 
crowd in." 

About eleven o'clock the procession arrived at Bull Pond, 
a mile out of Tallahassee. A negro preacher rose "to open 
the meeting with prayer ". Political resolutions were of- 
fered at the end of the prayer by a sergeant of the Federal 
army. They were declared adopted by " the committee " 
without submitting them to the meeting. Many of the 
open-mouthed, thick-lipped auditors had no conception 
what resolutions were. 

The first speaker of the day arose, James Taylor, negro. 
He was a fair specimen of his class. His spirit seemed to 
swing back to the remote land of his ancestors. The spell 
of Africa was upon him and he spoke with the native elo- 
quence of his race. Most of his auditors, hardly above voo- 
dooism, would feel the spell. He said that a short time ago 
he heard something like a clap of thunder and then he saw 
something like a flash of lightning, and then he saw the 
" stars and stripes " coming, which proclaimed freedom. 
His auditors crooned approval. The white people, he 
continued, " talk about living in harmony, and yet are 
always talking about one race being exterminated if they 



458 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



did not preserve harmony. Before they [the negroes] 
should vote for such people let the colored race be extermin- 
ated." He told his fellow blacks to vote for the "Yankees," 
who had given them " their privileges ". " You should be 
thankful to God first and the Yankees next," he said, and 
continuing, " the country had tried rebels two years, and 
the freedmen had not gotten justice," in proof of which he 
said that his wife had a suit in the courts now and the 
" nasty, stinking law-officer was trying his best to swindle 
her out of her property." 

More black orations of similar quality followed. In- 
justice borne, future votes, and general invective against 
the native white were their burthen. Finally, a white man 
was speaking — some carpet-bagger. Slavery, he said, had 
been swept away and the blacks were as good as whites. In 
Charleston the authorities had given the " colored man " 
the right to ride on the street cars. For the edification of 
the crowd he related what was termed " an instance of a 
Southern man in New York," pointless but illustrative of 
a sinister tendency. The Southern white man it seems was 
taken by a friend to church and when he got there he found 
a negro in the man's pew. The Southern white man said, 
"Why, how is this? You've got a negro in your pew." 
" But," replied his friend, " he's worth $50,000." " Oh! " 
exclaimed the Southerner, " introduce him to me at once." 
(Received with shouts by the crowd of blacks.) The speak- 
ing was followed by " a dinner " managed by the secret 
societies who fed a host of blacks already beginning to roar 
because of liquor. The late afternoon was consumed with 
more radical speeches, firing of guns, pulling of razors, and 
near the end of the festivities a barber-politician. Green 
Davidson, attempted " riding through the crowd." His 
efforts ended in a " grand fight ".^ 

* Taken from an account in Floridian, May 21, 1867. The Floridian 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 



459 



Other political picnics and rallies similar to this occurred 
in many other localities of Florida during the golden, swel- 
tering summer months of 1867. The outlook was gloomy 
for those wishing peace. 

Soon after inauguration of the congressional plan of 
reconstruction, Conservative leaders in Florida began to try 
for the political control of the negro. They were suspected 
and generally unpopular among their ex-slaves. Their 
method was to speak at negro meetings, where by threats 
and persuasion they tried to counteract the influence of 
Radical leaders, who drew their inspiration and funds prob- 
ably from the North. The Southerner was a poor mixer 
with the blacks. To move with them socially was against 
his training and against his instincts. Negro mass meet- 
ings were often gotten up by white Conservatives. 

In Pensacola Hayes Satterlee, an aged negro who es- 
poused the cause of his one-time master, called upon those 
of his race " to come out of the shade into the pure air." 
This was his text for an attack upon the secret political so- 
cieties which were attracting so many blacks. In the old 
negro's invocation " to come out of the shade into the pure 
air " we have a resume of a large part of Conservative 
stump speeches during 1867. The attack on Lincoln 
Brotherhoods and Union Leagues was bitter and sustained.^ 

In Tallahassee, on April 12th, Mr. Hogue and Mr. Papy, 

was a Conservative journal, but in comparing i's account with that of 
a similar event by an intelligent black who took part, John Wallace, 
we find the same features emphasized ; see Wallace, Carpetbag Rule, 
p. 39. Also compare with Rpt. Col. Sprague on negro Emancipation 
Day procession, A'^. Y. Tribune, Feb. 20, 1867. 

* Another negro, Wm. Martin of Lake City (a free negro under 
slavery) in an "Address " to those of his own race advised against 
breaking with ihe Southern whites and particularly aga'nst being 
made " political slaves of — mere tools to be used when wanted and 
then cast aside — and therefore I say to you keep aloof from the 
secret societies — let politics alone," etc. — Floridian, June 25, 1867. 



460 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

prominent ex-slave-holders, spoke to an assemblage of 
blacks, and promptly at the conclusion of their remarks in- 
temperate and offensive speeches were made by several 
negroes/ On the 20th, again in Tallahassee, a mass-meet- 
ing of blacks was addressed by Governor Walker and Judge 
Mcintosh. The public square was filled with negroes. 
Some people feared violent contact between the races, but 
the white speakers were heard with respectful attention. 
However, at the conclusion of the advice and warning by 
the state's chief executive and a well-known judge, resolu- 
tions were adopted which declared : " We cherish no ill-will 
against our former masters, but the freedom-loving people 
of the North deserve our thanks for our freedom. Re- 
solved, ... to identify ourselves with the Republican 
Party." ^ In Quincy, April 17th, blacks and whites met, 
and men of both races spoke — the white speakers being 
Judge Dupont, chief justice of the supreme court, and two 
well-known planters. Colonel C. B. Love and Colonel R. 
H. M. Davidson, all ex-slave-holders.^ In Tallahassee an- 
other mass-meeting took place on the 27th. Judge Douglas 
of the supreme court and Mr. Wescott, attorney-general, 
spoke.^ During the month of May similar mass-meetings 
of blacks and Conservative whites were held in Ocala,"^^ 
Lake city," Monticello,'^ Jacksonville, and Gainesville.® 

* Floridian, Apr. 15, 1867. 

2 Floridian, Apr. 23, 1867 ; N. Y. Tribune, Apr. 30, 1867 ; N. F. 
Herald, Apr. 30, 1867. 

' Quincy Commonwealth, Apr. 23, 1867. * Floridian, Apr. 30, 1867. 

^Quotation from E. Fla. Banner, Floridian, May 3, 1867 — about 
1000 present. 

^ From Florida Times, Floridian, May 7, 1867; also May 21, 1867. 
Meeting was Apr. 26. Eight negro speakers. Tone conciliatory, but 
all for Repub. party. Resolutions condemned Pres. Johnson. 

'' Floridian, May 7, 1867. Meeting Apr. 30. 

8 Rpt. of Col. Sprague, A^. Y. Tribune, June 13, 1867. He stated 



BEGINNING OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 461 

Crowds of negroes attended these meetings. The inter- 
est of blacks in secret societies, religion, and political dis- 
cussion was beginning to interfere with work on the plan- 
tations. At a Lake City meeting the local Freedmen's 
Bureau agent publicly advised the negroes to send delegates 
to represent them at future political rallies, as it was un- 
profitable for all to come. ^ 

Much of the violent and incendiary talk by negroes at 
this time was probably the talk of those who wished to as- 
tonish and who were in love with the sound of their own 
voices. Green Davidson, a notorious and robust negro fire- 
eater of Florida, would sometimes take up a collection in his 
hat from his white hearers — ex-masters mostly — after a 
particularly fiery and revolutionary speech directed against 
them. But back of it all was an ugly and insolent spirit of 
opposition to the white man who refused to mingle with the 
blacks on terms of social equality. 

On the other hand, a good deal of talk by Southern 
whites was not seriously meant at first. Threats of eco- 
nomic retaliation, of turning the negro away from work if 
he did not vote the right way, were far more easily made 
than executed. Would the Bureau and Federal military 
allow such retaliation ? Could the white employer afford to 
"turn off" his negro employees? Who could take their 
places? 

The more enlightened and shrewder blacks saw into the 
situation. " It is difficult to say what course the white 
people of the state will take to control the negro vote," 
wrote Colonel Sprague.^ At the time that this observation 

that at Jacksonville 2.000 blacks assembled; Gainesville, 2,000; Lake 
City, 3,000; Tallahassee, 5,000. 

^ Floridian, May 7, 1867. 

* N. Y. Tribune, June 13, 1867. 



462 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

was made the whites, as we have seen, were attempting this 
control by attacking in public speech the secret societies, 
by advising co-operation between black and native whites, 
by vague promises of just treatment and political rights, 
and by vague threats of economic retaliation for those who 
should support the Radical party. The Conservative did 
not promise the negro the ballot. The Radical did promise 
it to him and drilled him to use it. It might be well to turn 
attention now to this question of Radical political organi- 
zation which went rapidly forward while the state was 
under militarv rule. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Registration and the Organization of Local Parties, 

1867 

The paramount power in the state from March 15th, 1867, 
to July 4th, 1868, was the Federal military. Post command- 
ers ruled while the Congressional plan of reconstruction 
was being applied. Local civil government weakly existed 
as the every-day instrument of record and litigation, but 
completely subject to the military.^ Federal courts were in 
session ^ and the post-office department continued to deliver 
mails, although the number of post-offices was reduced 
from 181 to 85 before June, 1867.^ Four days after Gen- 
eral Pope assumed command he instructed all post com- 
manders " to report as soon as practicable any failure of 
civil tribunals or officers to render equal justice to the peo- 
ple, and whilst not interfering with the functions of the 
civil officers," they were directed to give particular atten- 
tion to the " manner in which such functions are dis- 
charged." * The legislature did not meet. The governor 
did not attempt to enforce the law. No elections were al- 
lowed by the military. Vacancies in office were filled by 
military appointment.^ Only a few removals from office 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 1st S., no. 342, pp. 114-131; Floridian, Apr. 
26, May 10, June 14, 1867. 

' Floridian, June 14, 1867. 

» Rpt. P. M. Gen., 1867-8, p. 38. 

* Sen. Ex. Docs., 40th C, ist S., no. 14, pp. 108-9; Gen. Ord. no. 4, 
3rd Mil. Dist., Apr. 4, 1867. 

' Ihid., p. 128, Sp. Ord., no. 20 (Appt. of justice of peace in Her- 

463 



464 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

by the military were made in Florida, and the officers were 
minor ones.^ 

The Republican Club of Jacksonville tried to force Gov- 
ernor Walker's removal but failed.^ At the head of this 
arbitrary government stood General Pope, stationed at 
Atlanta, Georgia. Under him was Colonel Sprague in 
Tallahassee. Under Sprague were the post commanders 
from lieutenant to lieutenant-colonel, stationed in every 
town in Florida. The will of the commander was backed 
by the troops composing the garrisons. 

The military brooked no embarrassments from action of 
the courts. "No civil court," stated general orders of August 
2nd, 1867, " will hereafter entertain any action whatever 
against officers or soldiers or any person for acts performed 
in accord with orders from the military authorities or by 
their sanction."^ Shortly after, August 19th, general 
orders directed all judges to submit on demand all papers 
in any case to military headquarters on pain of arrest and 
trial before military commission if they did not comply. 
The same day the same power similarly ordained that 
" grand and petit jurors and all other jurors for the trial 
of cases civil or criminal or for the administration of 
law " * be taken exclusively from voters registered under 
the Reconstruction Acts — which meant that for the time 

nando, Fla.) ; p. 135, Sp. Ord., no. 40 (Appt. of member city council at 
Apalachicola to fill vacancy caused by death.) H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 
2nd S., no. 342, p. 122, Sp. Ord., no. 27 (Appt. mayor, council and 
marshal for town of Gainesville), p. 126, Sp. Ord., no. 238 (Appt. cir- 
cuit judge to fill vacancy caused by death) et£., An. Cyclo., 1867, 
proclam. of Gov. Marvin, June 18, in regard to vacancies in civil offices. 

' For instance, Suwanee News, Oct. 9, 1867. 
2/oMr. Repub. Club, May 2, 1867. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C., 2nd S., no. 342, p. 109. 

* Ibid., p. no. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 465 

many of the largest property-holders and most respected 
whites in Florida could not sit on juries or take any part 
whatever in the deliberation of courts. 

Florida did not suffer much material hardship from 
military rule. The people were more or less used to it by 
1867. Federal officers generally stood for a certain sort of 
law and order and peace. When it became apparent that 
the negroes of Central Florida were attending night meet- 
ings under arms, orders were promptly issued forbidding 
them under severe penalty from congregating at night with 
arms in the counties of Leon, Jackson, Calhoun, Gadsden, 
Liberty, Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson, Madison, and Tay- 
lor.^ To keep whiskey from aggravating any trouble be- 
tween blacks and whites during the July 4th celebrations, all 
bar-rooms were closed by military order from July 3rd to 
July 6th.- Military courts supplanted the civil courts when 
the civil tribunals were distrusted.^ 

In more ways than merely keeping order did General 
Pope desire his soldiers to be instruments for bringing to 
pass a thorough application of Congress's plans. Soldiers 
sat on registration boards; a few appointments and re- 
movals were made in civil office by military orders ; officials 
opposing reconstruction were threatened by post command- 
ers ; state printing and advertising were withheld by 
military orders from those journals opposing Congres- 
sional reconstruction ; * and finally, the division of the state 

' Gen. Orel, no. 30, An. Cyclo., 1867; Floridian, June 28, 1867. 

"" An. Cyclo., 1867. 

' Sen. Ex. Docs., 40ih C, ist S., no. 14, p. 93, Gen. Ord., no. i (Fla.) 
Apr. I, 1867, pp. 108-9, Gen. Ord., no. 4, Apr. 4, 1867. H. Ex. Docs., 
40th C., 2nd S., no. 342, Gen. Ord., no. 7, Jan. 11, 1868; Gen. Ord., no. 
10, Jan. 15, 1868. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 4Cth C, 2nd S., no. 342, p. 131, Gen. Ord., no. 22, 
Feb. 2, 1868. 



466 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



into election districts by General Pope had about it certainly 
the traces of sharp political practice. 

The first large task of the military commander was ac- 
complishing the registration of prospective voters under 
the Reconstruction Acts. By order of April 8th, General 
Pope began the work. The thirty-nine counties were 
grouped in nineteen registration districts or " divisions ". 
In each " division " was a registration board of three per- 
sons appointed by Pope on the advice of state commander 
Sprague. " It is desirable that in all cases registers shall 
be civilians, where it is possible to obtain such," ran the 
orders of April 8th. Colonel Sprague was authorized to 
appoint one or more " supervisors of registration ", whose 
business it should be to visit the various points where regis- 
tration was being carried on, to inspect the operations of the 
registers, and to assure themselves that every man entitled 
to vote has " the necessary information concerning his 
political rights ".^ 

General instructions were issued to registers on June ist. 
They were directed to proceed to register all male citizens 
of the United States within their jurisdiction, twenty-one 
years old and upwards, irrespective of color or previous 
condition, who should subscribe to the required oath. 
" You will cause the fact of your appointment to be made 
known throughout the district by all means within your 
reach," stated the instructions — " hand-bills, letters, notices 
posted in public places, such as election polls, post-offices, 
cross-roads, taverns, stores, etc." The registration boards 
were directed to visit " each and every election precinct in 
each and every county," spending in each precinct the "num- 
ber of days necessary to complete the registration." In 
proceeding to register they were " to read distinctly to the 

' Sen. Ex. Docs., 40th C, ist S., no. 14, pp. 107-110. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 467 

person or persons to be registered the oath prescribed by 
law and printed on the books of registration." Each person 
to be enrolled must sign " a separate copy in the book," and 
having taken " the prescribed oath " in the presence of the 
registers must receive a signed and numbered registration 
certificate.^ 

Special instructions were issued by Pope to the Florida 
boards on June 17th. They were forbidden to register any 
one-time Federal or state official who " afterwards en- 
gaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States 
or gave aid and comfort to the enemies thereof." The in- 
structions included among such proscribed persons members 
of Congress and all local officers down to and including 
" mayors and intendants of towns and citizens who are ex 
officio justices of the peace." ^ 

The work went forward slowly. Negroes and soldiers 
often sat on the registration boards. The " Iron Clad 
Oath " was required of those performing the functions of 
registrars or " registers ". Ex-Confederates could not 
take it without perjuring themselves and therefore most 
native whites were not eligible. The registration boards 
moved from place to place within their counties.^ 

Registration in Florida began July 15th and continued 
till September 20th.* The man who supervised and directed 
it was Colonel Hart, of Jacksonville, a Southerner and 
one-time " Union man ". He was appointed superintendent 
of registration on June 13th by General Pope.^ In order 

^ Sen. Ex. Docs., 40th C, ist S., no. 14, pp. 1 19-120. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 342, pp. 106-107. 

' For examples of how board was expected to work, see notice of 
Board of Registration for Putnam Coun y, Floridian, Aug. g, 1867. 

* An. Cyc'o., 1867; Gen. Order, no. 21 extended the registration 
period from Aug. 20th to Sept. 20th ; see Floridian, Sept. 6, 1867. 

' H. Ex. Docs., 40lh C, 2nd S., no. 342, p. 122, Gen. Ord.. no. 43; 
An. Cycle, 1867. 



468 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

to be registered the individual was required to answer satis- 
factorily practically any questions that the registrars wished 
to ask him. The boards exercised the power of going be- 
hind the oath and throwing out an applicant on his record 
as they understood it.^ The object was to register only 
the " truly loyal ". The registrars were directed by the 
military to see to it that the civil officials of the state did 
not discourage " the people " in taking an active part in 
" Reconstruction ". The names of all such officers " dis- 
couraging Reconstruction " were called for at military^ 
headquarters.^ Furthermore, General Pope paid each re- 
gister so much per head for those persons registered by 
him. "The object of graduating the pay of registers." 
stated Pope, " is to make sure that the entire freedmen's 
vote will be brought out ". Pope prepared to crush South- 
ern whites with negro majorities.^ The Freedmen's Bureau 
aided the registration boards in lining-up the negroes for 
enrollment.* 

When the order was published which divided Florida 
into nineteen election districts a useless protest went up 
from the Conservative journals.^ The state was in process 
of being " gerrymandered " by the matching of counties 
and the apportionment of representation.^ To certain 
counties where the black vote would be overwhelmingly 

' Floridian, Sep. 20, 1867. For a general discussion of this question 
in the South see Rhodes, v. vi, pp. 79-82. 
^ An. Cyclo., 1867; Gen. Ord., no. 41, July 19. 
' H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 1st S., no. 20, p. 40. 

* H. Rpts., 41st C, 2nd S., no. 121, pp. 47-48 statement of Col. 
Sprague. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C. 2nd S., no. 342, pp. 1 14-16, Gen. Ord., no. 74, 
Oct. 5, 1867. Floridian, Oct. 15, 1867. See Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, 
PP- 49-50. He points out that five of the less populous counties (white) 
were excluded from representation. 

'Floridian, Oct. 8, 1867. Editorial on "Skillful Gerrymandering". 
See charge of Conservatives against Pope, An. Cyclo., 1867. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 469 

greater than the white, counties were added where the 
white vote would be greater than the black, but not great 
enough to overcome the lead of the black vote in the con- 
solidated counties composing the district. Such an arrange- 
ment made effective use of actual negro majorities. Alto- 
gether, nine counties which might have sent up delegations 
to the constitutional convention elected by whites were 
added by General Pope to black counties, and thus their 
Conservative strength was absorbed as ink in blotting paper. 
The paper in turn became black. If county lines had been 
respected and as many as twenty per cent of the whites 
disfranchised, twenty-nine of the thirty-nine counties might 
have remained under white control, and a bare majority 
of delegates chosen would have been the choice of Con- 
servative white electors. 

In the assigning of representation to districts, General 
Pope gave preference to those districts certain to be con- 
trolled by the negroes. For example, the 13th District 
(Bradford and Clay counties) with a population of about 
4,500, mostly whites, was given one delegate; while the 
4th District (Gadsden County), population about 7,500, 
mostly negroes, was given three delegates. 

The result of registration rendered much gerrymander- 
ing unnecessary. The figures stood 11,148 white voters 
and 15,434 black.^ This meant that less than 10,000 Con- 
servatives faced more than 16,000 Radicals. About thirty per 
cent of the whites had been disfranchised or had refrained 
from registering.^ The bulk of the negroes were regis- 

^ Floridian, Oct. 8th, 1867; An. Cyclo., 1867; N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 
7th, 1867. The Tribune's figures are slightly inaccurate. In the 2nd, 
5th, 10 h, 13th, i6th, 17th, i8th, 19th, dists. the whites had a majority. 
These districts were assigned 10 of the 46 representalives to be sent 
to the convention. 

' This estimate is based on an average of male adult inhabitants ac- 



470 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



tered at an earlier date than the whites. The majority of 
the latter held off until the last few days. 

When the result of registration was known Conservative 
leaders advised: "vote for a delegate to a convention but 
do not vote for a convention.'" ^ According to the Supple- 
mental Reconstruction Act of March 23rd, no convention 
would be held unless a majority of the registered voters 
" shall have voted on the question of holding such conven- 
tion ". ^ The problem was to comply with the Congres- 
sional policy and at the same time defeat it. With Radical 
registration more than 5,000 ahead of Conservative, there 
was indeed a slim chance to confound Congress by taking 
it at its own word. 

In the summer of 1867 two Radical politicians — Daniel 
Richards, white, of Illinois, and William U. Saunders, black, 
of Maryland — appeared in Florida.* They were commonly 
reputed to be representatives of the Republican national 
committee sent to the state to lead in the local organization 
of the party.^ Their actual relations with the national 
committee are not clear. Richards had been in Florida 
shortly after the war as a Federal treasury agent. ^ The 
two men soon assumed a leading part in Republican politics 

cording to the Census of 1867 which gave the white popula ion of 
Florida as 81,892, but did not distinguish between men, women and 
children. 

1 Floridian, Aug. and Sept., 1867, passim. 

' Floridian, Sept. 6;h. 1867. By this date 10,500 blacks had regis- 
tered and 5,100 whites. The registration books closed Sept. 20th. 

• Floridian, Oct. i8th and 25th, 1867. 

* Text of Act, see also Gen. Ord., no. 74, 3rd Mil. Dist. Oct. Sth, 
H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 342, pp. 114- 116. 

* Floridian, Feb. 11, 1868. Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, pp. 44-45; 
Rerick, Memoirs of Fla., v. i, p. 303. 

• H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, Rpt. of Comit, (in Fla.> 
on Eligibility. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 471 

within the state. They were particularly prominent in the 
organization of Union Leagues among the negroes — found- 
ing new chapters and binding together the whole, chapter 
by chapter, into a fairly compact political organization/ 

Another man was soon associated politically with Rich- 
ards and Saunders. He was an ex-officer of a negro regi- 
ment and with his regiment had come into Florida as an 
invader during the war. At the close of hostilities he had 
settled at Fernandina, East Florida. He wore green spec- 
tacles, took a great interest in the negroes, delivered on oc- 
casions rather pulpitish political speeches, called on the 
name of Jesus from the stump, and was at his best when 
hurling what was termed " oratorical Billingsgate " at 
" rebels " and the " poisonous breath of slavery ". This 
might have been a bad pun, for the man was Liberty Bill- 
ings, of New Hampshire — tall, slender, black-haired, rough, 
unscrupulous, hard-fisted in affairs, and thrifty in politics. 
Billings was at first popular with the negroes. He kissed 
black babies, spoke often of God, and did his best to stir up 
strife between the races. ^ 

That which characterized Billings, Saunders, and Rich- 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 45. Wallace implies that Richards and 
Saunders founded the first chapters of the Union League in Florida. 
Both Harrison Reed and Judge Chase spoke of Union Leagues 18 
months before this, — see Johnson Papers, Rerick, Memoirs of Fla., 
V. I, p. 303; Floridian, June 3, 1867 — reference to the founding of the 
Union League in Jacksonville. Floridian, Apr. 16, 1867, — The Leagues 
" exist under our very noses and we are told that if we had a list of 
parlies belonging to them, the list would surprise us," etc. Floridian, 
June 28, 1867, — " Secret societies are being organized in every county," 
etc. Floridian, Apr. 26, 1867,—" Union Leagues are formed in a dozen 
counties with a view of making a strict division in politics and colored 
citizens have already formed clubs here (Tallahassee) and in St. 
Augustine, Key West, Palatka, and Pensacola." 

* See Reference to Billings in Floridian, Feb. 18, 1868; Wallace, 
op. cit., pp. 45 and 63. 



472 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



ards was their fondness for extreme views. They were 
very radical. Billings was almost Stevenesque in his 
cantankerous bitterness toward Southern whites and most 
existing institutions of the South. 

A more moderate or conservative faction of the Repub- 
lican party was that grouped about the Republican Club of 
Jacksonville. The club was organized during March, 1867, 
in the business office of Colonel O. B. Hart — the Federal 
chief registrar and one-time " Union-man " of East 
Florida. It grew steadily. At the end of six weeks some 
200 of the most substantial citizens in Jacksonville and the 
vicinity were enrolled — Northerners and Southerners.^ 

The club was alive and doing. It met twice a week, sent 
its representatives to different points within the state to 
take part in the negro mass-meetings," called on the Fed- 
eral military to investigate alleged violence and injustice 
to blacks,* proffered advice to the commander of Federal 
troops in Florida, intrigued for the removal by the mili- 
tary of certain civil officials of the state,* and finally engi- 
neered the first real state convention of the Republican 
party in Florida.^ 

Speaking from a knowledge of after history this organi- 
zation had among its members most of the brains and in- 
fluence at the party's disposal in Florida. Two future Re- 

^ See Journal of the Union-Se publican Club of Jacksonville, MSS. 
Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville. The Club was organized, 
Mch. 27, 1867, at the business office of Col. O. B. Hart. Hart was 
chairman of this first meeting. C. L. Robinson, H. Bisbee, Jr., J. C. 
Greely, and N. C. Dennett were among those associated in founding 
the club. 

* Journal of Union-Repub. Club, Apr. 25, 1867. 
' Ibid., May 30, 1867. 

* Ibid., Apr. 8, 11, and 18 and June 13, 1867. 

* Ibid., May 2, 1867. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 473 

publican governors were members of the club — Reed and 
Hart. On issuing a call for a state convention at Talla- 
hassee, the Jacksonville club after long discussion pointedly- 
refrained from calling a " Radical Union-Republican " 
convention.^ It dropped the word " Radical ". The inci- 
dent is suggestive of its character. Certainly it was less 
radical than the Billings, Saunders, and Richards faction. 

A third element of the Republican party in Florida was 
the group led by Colonel T. W. Osborn. It included most 
of the Freedmen Bureau agents and the negro secret order 
known as the Lincoln Brotherhood." Osborn was a pro- 
ficient politician who did not indulge in radical tirades. 
He has been discussed in a foregoing chapter. He was the 
official head of the Freedmen's Bureau in Florida until 
June nth, 1866,^ and was Head Master of the Lincoln 
Brotherhood, 

In the foregoing we have the three political factions 
which at the time, 1867, made up the local Republican or- 
ganization — Billings, Saunders, and Richards with the 
Union Leagues; Hart, Robinson, Reed, and others of the 
Jacksonville Republican Club with some capital and busi- 
ness prestige ; and T. W. Osborn with the Bureau and the 
Lincoln Brotherhood. 

In estimating the strength of Republican organization in 
Florida, the other factors to be considered are the Federal 
military and the Federal postal, customs, judicial, and in- 
ternal revenue ofificials.* Also the Supplemental Recon- 

' Journal of Union-Republican Club, May 9, 1867. 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 42, 45. Wallace is practically the only source 
substantiating this statement. An Osborn faction certainly existed. 
Osborn was an active Bureau official ; see H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 
1st S., no. 70; 2nd S., no. 6; N. Y. World, May 31, 1866, etc. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 2nd S., no. 6, pp. 43-44- 

* United States Official Register, 1867. Exclusive of Bureau agents 



474 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

struction Act of March 23rd provided for registration 
boards composed of those who could take the " Ironclad 
Oath." This requirement effectually barred most Conser- 
vatives from participating in revising the voting lists. The 
vast work of registration fell to negroes, Southern loyalists 
or " scalawags ", the Federal military, and carpet-baggers.^ 
These men when dishonest " doctored " the lists. When 
honest, they were inclined toward spreading very decidedly 
Radical and not Conservative ideas. 

By these various agencies the Republican or Union- 
Republican party was destined to bring into effective use 
and hold in line the negro vote. " Let us do nothing to con- 
fuse their [negroes'] minds," cannily wrote Colonel Hart, 
later state superintendent of registration, "but do all in our 
power to keep them full and firm in their present faith." " 
The faith was Republicanism. 

Results showed that Radical politicians were at work and 
were laboring effectively. " When we look around us we 
see loyalists straining every nerve to get the entire negro 
vote. To this end they are working day and night. . . , 
Night after night they have meetings and musterings, har- 
anguings and sermons, singing and praying, all looking to 
political results," stated the Floridian.^ 

The Republican state convention called by the Jackson- 
ville Republican Club assembled in Tallahassee on July 

there were 132 Federal office-holders in the state at this time, besides 
17 individuals and 3 R. R. corporations who were mail con ractors 
with the Federal Postal Dept. The distribu ion of the offices was as 
follows: 80 postmasters; 43 customs officers and assistants; one in- 
ternal revenue assessor; one register and one receiver of Fed. lands; 
two district judges; two district attorneys, and two U. S. marshals. 

^ See discussion of Col. Sprague's policy, Floridian, Apr. 26, 1867. 

* Floridian, July 2, 1867. 

• Floridian, June 28, 1867. 



I 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 



475 



iith.^ Thirty counties were represented. 125 delegates 
were recorded as present." About one-half of the number 
were negroes. It was the first real state-wide convention 
of the Republican party in Florida and was justly termed 
" a mixed multitude ".^ The object of Radical leaders was 
to bring together into more coherent shape on local matters 
the various factions of Republicans and to " impress " the 
blacks. 

The political text of most of the convention speakers, black 
and white, was the dishonesty, extravagance, and injustice of 
the Conservative state government. The state tax rate was 
attacked, the action of the legislature in appropriating funds 
for Confederate widows and orphans was violently de- 
nounced, and resolutions were passed calling on General 
Pope to revoke the law ; and finally the state treasurer was 
accused of misappropriating school funds.* The truth in 
any of the charges is not apparent now, and probably never 
was apparent. 

The organization of the convention accentuated that fac- 
tional alignment already discernible among Republicans.^ 
The committee on nominations failed to agree on a perma- 
nent chairman. It brought in two reports. The majority 

* Journal Un.-Reptib. Club, May 2, 1867. Floridian, July 2, 9, and 
12, 1867. Col. Hart proposed that in each county, county mass meet- 
ings be held and political organization perfected. 

* An. Cyclo., 1867; Floridian, July 12, 1867. This estimate of the 
number of delegates is high and probably inaccurate. 

* Floridian, July 12, 1867. 

* Floridian, June 14; July 16 and 26; Aug. 9, 1867. An. Cyclo., 1867. 
Before and after this convention the Conservative and Radical news- 
papers had engaged in more or less violent controversy over state 
finance. 

* The Jacksonville Times and the Florida Union, both Radical sheets, 
had for some weeks been engaged in a war of words which indicated 
hostility between the native loyalists and Northern Republicans. See 
also Reed to Blair, June 26, 1865, Johnson Palmers. 



476 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

proposed T. W. Osborn, chief of the Bureau and a North- 
ern man; the minority, Colonel O. B. Hart, of the Jackson- 
ville Republican Club, a Southern loyalist. In the debate 
which followed the submission of the two reports, Liberty 
Billings bitterly and loudly opposed Hart. He said that 
Hart was a Southern man and had lived too long in the 
atmosphere of slavery to be trusted. Only a Northern man, 
he said, could undertsand the true spirit of " liberty and 
Unionism ". These sentiments were vociferously ap- 
plauded by the negroes. On the putting of the question to 
a vote Hart was defeated nineteen to twenty-eight. He 
left by the next train for Jacksonville.^ 

" The finale of the contest for chairmanship of the late 
convention at Tallahassee characterized the convention to 
its close," observed the Times, a Radical journal of Jack- 
sonville. " Two opinions or policies are distinctly enun- 
ciated — the one appreciative of and admitting the loyal ele- 
ment to an equality in the work of reconstruction; the 
other, ignoring that element in toto." " " Already the birds 
of passage so long on the wing have staid their soaring to 
and fro," cynically stated the Conservative Floridian, "and 
with accordant swoops would fain settle themselves on the 
prey scented from afar." ^ 

The " birds of passage " referred to were Northern 
men who came into the state seeking political office or 
political favors from the Federal government or from 
negro voters. Most of them arrived between 1865 and 
1868 as Federal officials, would-be planters, merchants, or 
professional men. Some were in no sense " birds of pas- 
sage," having come South after the war not primarily for 

* Floridian, July 12, 1867. 

' Florida Times, Aug. 8 — The Bureau and Lincoln Brotherhood were 
declared to be working against the " Hart interests." 
' Floridian, Sept. 6, 1867. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES ■ 477 

politics or temporary jobs, but rather to make homes where 
business and professional opportunities non-political seemed 
most promising. Circumstances soon encouraged such men 
to enter politics, and not infrequently they became as bad as 
" birds of passage ". 

In examining the careers of political leaders during the 
Reconstruction period we find that at least twelve North- 
erners played prominent parts as Republican leaders in 
Florida, namely, Reed of Wisconsin, Purman of Pennsyl- 
vania, Richards of Illinois, Jenkins of New York(?), 
Dennis of Massachusetts, Osborn of New Jersey, Gleason 
of Wisconsin, Alden of Massachusetts, Hamilton of Penn- 
sylvania, Billings of New Hampshire, and Stearns and Bis- 
bee of Maine. All of the foregoing except Richards came 
into the state before 1867 and therefore before the blacks 
were enfranchised by act of Congress.^ Eight of the fore- 
going. Osborn, Billings, Alden, Stearns, Bisbee, Jenkins, 
Dennis, and Hamilton, were ex-officers of the Union army, 
and five of them had entered the state before 1866. Nine 
of the twelve were hona-Ude citizens of Florida by the 
spring of 1867. Some had families and some had none. 

^ Reed, first Repub. Governor, arrived in Fla. in 1862 as Tax Com- 
missioner: H. Ex. Docs., 38th C, 2nd S., no. 18; Reed to Blair, 
Johnson Papers. Purman came to Fla. in 1866 from Washington 
(City) as Fed. officeholder: H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22 (Ku 
Klux), V. 13, p. 149. Richards came to Fla. in 1865, and Jenkins in 
1865: Florida Union, Feb. 22, 1868. Dennis came to Fla. in 1866: 
(Ku Klux), V. 13, pp. 267, 270. Osborn came to Fla. in 1865: 
Floridian, June 23, 1868. Gleason came to Fla. in 1866: Floridian, 
July 7, 1868; Fla. Reports, 1868, ouster case of Lt. Gov. Gleason. Alden 
came to Fla. in 1865 or 6 (?) : Floridian, Nov. 3. 1868; N. Y. lVor!d, 
Nov. 3, 1868. Hamilton came to Fla. in 1864: (Ku Klux), v. 13, pp. 
281. 285; Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, pp. 298, 337. Billings 
came to Fla. in 1863 with the army: Off. Reds. RebelL, s. i, v. 14. pp. 
232, 238-9, 860-61. S' earns came to Fla. in 1865 or 6: (Ku Klux), v. 
13, P- 75- Bisbee came to Fla. in 1865: Rerick, Memoirs of Fla.. v. i, 
p. 441; (Ku Klux), V. 13, pp. 305-8. 



478 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The prospective triumph of a radical Congress during 
1866, and its definitive triumph the year following in en- 
franchising the blacks through the Reconstruction Laws, 
developed the white wing of the Radical party South. 
Backed by negro votes it could amount to something locally. 
The native white Republican of Florida — termed by oppo- 
nents " scalawag " — found at first that leadership of the 
negroes was largely in the hands of the late arrivals from 
the North, for very actually, 

" From New Hampshire's green mountains, 

From Old Nantucket's strand, 
From Lake Ontario's fountains, 

And Huron's golden sands, 
From Old Wisconsin's River 

And famed Iowa's plains, 
They were there to deliver 

The state to negro chains. 

" They love the spicy breezes 

That blow from Afric's shore, 
A scent that so well pleases. 

Who would not long for more? 
Thick lips and coal-black faces 

The gifts of God are shown; 
They'll take these dusky races 

And mingle with their own. 

" Should those whose souls are lighted 

From wisdom from On High 
Wait still to be invited 

Before they hither fly? 
When offices are waiting 

And plunder is to reap? 
Not at the present stating. 

When carpet-bags are cheap." ^ 

The record of the Republican convention at Tallahassee 
showed unmistakably a split in the party's ranks. The 

» " The Song of the Carpet-Bagger," N. Y. World, Sept. 30, 1868, 
with slight changes. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES ^yij 

Radical papers of Jacksonville — the Times and the Union 
— confirmed the truth by their editorials.' A fight was on 
between *' scalawag " and " carpet-bagger ". Numerically 
neither class was large. Less than 500 Northern Repub- 
licans and maybe 1,500 " scalawags " is a safe estimate.' 

The Conservative white wished each class to destroy the 
other. He considered the average " Yankee " South a 
meddlesome interloper spreading pernicious social doc- 
trine and bent on selfish gain from politics. He did not 
see in him merely a new neighbor (as he would to-day) 
needing help to get on his feet, seeking probably an honest 
living, and wishing friends among his own race in a strange 
land. He detested the native white Republican about as 
much as he did the " Yankee ". In him he saw not simply 
an old Southern neighbor who might honestly and respect- 
ably differ from Conservatives on political questions — as, 
for instance, Democrat had differed from Whig before the 
war — but a turncoat, a " disgraceful nigger-lover " who 
was recreant to his race and who sought political prefer- 
ment at any cost. 

" All men have the undoubted right in our country to 
think and act for themselves on all political questions," de- 
clared one Florida " scalawag " in publicly defending his 
position. He might have added : " But they do so now at 
their peril, South and North ". What he did add was : " In 

' FJoridian, Sept. 6, 1867. 

* An estimate based upon the following estimates and discussions : 
Floridian, Nov. 19 and Dec. 3, 1867; A^^. V. Hera'd, Dec. 2, 1867 
(Jacksonville letter) ; H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 219; 
Judge Long said in 1871 that previous to the last election (1870) it 
v/as calculated that "about 400 or 500 Northern men" were "Republi- 
cans" and "about 1500 or 1600 Southern men." The white wing of 
the Republican Party was more numerous in 1869-70 than in 1867. 
Only 1220 white votes (about 1000 were Republican) were cast in the 
election of 1868. 



48o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

defending the exercise of this right one who is in the minor- 
ity may be as sincere and upright in the belief he entertains 
as his neighbor who happens to be in the majority." ^ This 
is a platitude and meant nothing vital here. The fact that 
the scalawag and carpet-bagger were often leaders " in the 
majority " composed mainly of blacks had something to do 
with their being assailed so hotly by fellow whites who were 
" in the minority ". When the majority became tyrannical 
and corrupt the minority became correspondingly more 
bitter and uncompromising. 

Many a worthy " Yankee " who settled in the South 
after the war was received coldly by his Southern white 
neighbors. The Florida carpet-bagger was about right 
when he testified before the Reconstruction Committee in 
1866: "They [Southern white Conservatives] have a 
bitter aversion to what they term a Yankee ; that is a Union 
man." ^ This was part of the war's heritage. A new- 
comer from the North was usually persona non grata. To 
be reputed a Republican was to be reputed an enemy of 
the Conservative white, and therefore in the eyes of many 
Conservative whites, an enemy of the white race. 

Now when politics complicated matters, when white men 
came out openly in the South as the henchmen of the Radi- 
cal Republican party and the political intimates of the 
black, condemnation by the Conservative was swift and 
lasting. Previous coldness became social ostracism. " I 
have lived here seven years," stated Republican Judge 
Archibald of Florida, " and my family have lived here for 
the same length of time and I don't remember of ever being 

^ Floridian, Jan. 4, 1867, Open letter of Jno. W. Price, who had been 
a " Unionist " during the war. 

2 Testimony of Jno. W. Recks, Fed. Customs Collector, Pensaccla, 
before Reconstruction Committee, H. Rpts., 39th C, ist S., no. 30, p. i 
(Florida) ; also see H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 133. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 481 

invited into a Southern gentleman's house. The social 
relations are entirely disconnected. It is a deliberate plan 
to ostracise Northern people who express any sentiments in 
politics favorable to the Republican party." ^ 

Sometimes in the midst of personal misfortune and 
trials, when help and sympathy of neighbors were desired 
and needed, the Northerner found himself and his family 
pathetically alone. " My wife was very ill for many 
weeks," said one ex-carpet-bagger to me. " And she was 
burning up with fever and the white neighbors did not 
come to see her, except one lady with a kind heart. They 
left us to the niggers. And when the worst had happened 
and it was time to carry her to the grave only me and the 
niggers followed the coffin." ^ 

The terms " carpet-bagger " and " scalawag " were 
loosely applied and loaded with opprobrium and contempt. 
" Most of the carpet-baggers that I know anything about 
were a dirty set — unscrupulous and pandered to the ne- 
groes. They mixed with blacks on terms of social equal- 
ity," ^ stated a Conservative years after, and the record 
of Reconstruction substantiates his judgment. 

" They call me a carpet-bagger," stated an inoffensive 
gentleman from Massachusetts. " The term applies to 
those who come down here and sympathize with the Re- 
publican party. They call me a carpet-bagger and I have 

' Sen. Rpfs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, p. 277. Archibald was from 
III. The mass of testimony contained in this document and in the 
H. R{>ts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, supports the generalization that 
Northern Republicans were socially ostracised. 

2 Personal interview of the author with a one-time carpet-bagger of 
Escambia Co., Fla. 

3 Personal interview of the author with a Conservative of Pensa- 
cola. What was said to the author was in substance repeated in Mari- 
anna, Quincy, and Tallahassee by other gentlemen who had lived 
through the period in Fla. They presented the conservative point of 
view years after. 



482 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

not the least disposition to run for an office and gave them 
to understand plainly that I did not want any office ; that I 
had all the political honors I wanted in the North. I was 
Chairman of the Board of Selectmen in the town of Mai- 
den." ^ But this honor did not lift him above suspicion 
with some of Florida's ignorant. He hung an American 
flag over his front door after marching in a Republican pro- 
cession and next morning received a note saying: "Take 
your God-damn Yankee flag and go to Hell." ^ This is not 
a very fit sentiment but the times were not very fit times. 

" I am a carpet-bagger," scribbled some passing satirist 
in depicting the situation in the South. 

" I've a brother scalawag — 

Come South to boast and swagger 
With an empty carpet-bag, 

To rob the whites of green-backs 
And with the blacks go bunk 

And change my empty satchel 
For a full sole- leather trunk. 

I'm some on constitution 
For a late rebellious stale; 

And I'm some on persecution 
Of disloyal men I hate; 

I'm some at nigger meetings 
When white folks aint about; 

And some among the nigger gals 
When their marms don't known they're out." ■' 

The white Conservatives sought the control of the negro 
vote, and leaders urged whites to register. Registration 
was declared to be the duty of every white man. " It is 
the only way to save the state. It is his duty." * Specu- 

^ Testimony of John T. Abbott of Jacksonville before the Senate 

Committee (U. S.) on Privileges and Elections, 1876, — Sen. Rpts.. 

44th C, 2nd S., no. 611. pp. 299-300. 

' Ibid., p. 299. * A^ Y. World, Sept. 30, 1867—" The Carpet-Bagger." 

^Madison County Messenger, Aug. 9, 1867; Floridian, June 21, 25, 

28, 1867. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 483 

lative estimates of Conservative and Radical strength in 
the coming elections were anxiously indulged in. Most 
of the whites of Florida were Conservative. Before many 
months of military rule had passed it was evident that most 
of the negroes were strongly Republican. The Census of 
i860 gave the number of whites as yy,y4y; blacks, 62,677. 
By a special state census of 1867 the figures stood — whites, 
81,994; blacks, 72,666.^ Many of the native white loyalists 
of Florida became Republicans — " scalawags ". The size 
of the latter class was variously estimated from 1,000 to 
2,000 voters.^ On the other hand, the disfranchising clause 
of the Military Bill would greatly reduce Conservative 
registration. It was commonly estimated that one-fifth of 
the native whites would be disfranchised.^ These condi- 
tions made the prospective voting strength of the Radicals 
several thousands greater than that of the Conservatives. 
Yet by controlling the negroes in a populous county or two 
the Conservatives could win. 

Following the Union-Republican convention in Talla- 
hassee the Southern whites began by counties to organize 
the " Union-Conservative party " on a basis of the Recon- 
struction Acts of Congress.* A county convention was 
held at St. Augustine on July 22nd, and another at Talla- 
hassee on August 24th. At the Tallahassee meeting reso- 
lutions were adopted which declared that " what the coun- 
try needs is peace." The people were asked to come to- 
gether to restore the state government on a platform inde- 
pendent of either great party, and based solely on the Re- 

* Floridian during 1867 (Census reports were published from time 
to time). Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. i, p. 301. 

» H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 219. 

' iV. Y. World, Sept. 30, 1867. For a general discussion of dis- 
franchisement under the Mi'itary Bill see Rhodes, U. S., v. 6, pp. 79-81. 

* St. Augustine Examiner, July 27, 1867; An. Cyclo., 1867. 



484 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

construction Acts as a finality. Some of the clauses of 
these resolutions were taken verbatim from the letters of 
General Pope, the Federal military commander of the 
Third District. The spirit of the convention v^as one of 
quick and ready compliance -with the will of Congress. To 
the Radical who would make reconstruction a purging and 
punitive process, there was something exasperating in this. 
Blacks and whites were present in the convention hall.^ 

It was here that A. J. Peeler, an ex-slaveholder, made his 
opening speech in this locally memorable campaign for the 
control of the black as a voter. He was an effective stump 
speaker and what he said epitomizes picturesquely some of 
the views of the Conservatives. Referring to the Union 
Leagues, he said to the blacks on this occasion : 

There are some of you who are members of these Leagues. 
How did you join them? Was it at a meeting like this in 
broad, open daylight ? No ; it was when owls were hooting 
from the trees in the swamps and bats had left their holes, 
that away ofT in some obscure nook or corner, under lock and 
key, you were made to swear to a long riggamarole of stuff 
that you did not understand, and then, after swearing to it, you 
were told that you would be guilty of false swearing if you 
did not keep your oath. . . . They [" Yankees "] say that they 
set you free. Well, then, be free. They are afraid to trust 
you. Why do they skulk about in the dark unless they know 
their cause will not stand the light? . . . What have these 
Radicals done for you since they set you free? In the first 
place, they have made you pay three cents a pound on cotton, 
when they knew that you would have to sweat in the hot sun 
and make it in cotton fields. If you raise four bales of cotton, 
the tax is $50.00.^ 

^ Floridian, Aug. 27, 1867. 150 black and white "delegates" were 
present. The convention met in the county court house, which was 
packed with spectators. Thos. Randall was chosen president of the 
body. He was said to be a brother of the Postmaster-General. 

' Flnridian, Aug. 30, 1867. Peeler opposed the policy of Benj. Hill 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 485 

Mass-meetings participated in by negroes and white Con- 
servatives were held at Crawfordville, Waukeena/ Monti- 
cello, and Tallahassee * — all in the most populous portion 
of Central Florida. Whites and blacks spoke. The whites 
reiterated promises of equal political rights for the two 
races. The blacks not infrequently became violent in their 
talk — " impudent ", the Southerner calls it — and announced 
what was termed " Wendell Philips Doctrine ", which was 
that the property of the one-time masters belonged really 
to the one-time slaves.^ Few white Republicans spoke in 
these meetings. 

Peeler was a prominent figure in this Middle Florida 
stumping contest. At Monticello he said : 

"Uncle, who is Governor of Florida?" (pointing to a tall col- 
ored man in the crowd). "Don't know, Sir." "Who is 
President of the United States?" (Many voices: "Don't 
speak.") "Yes, speak and answer the question." "Don't 
know, sir." "Have you registered?" "Yes, sir." "Going 
to vote?" " Yes, sir." 

" My friends, that man has answered for nine-tenths of 
you. There is not one in ten in this vast crowd who could 
have answered better. There is Gen. Whitfield and Squire 
Gadsden, among the best and most intelligent men in the South, 
who are not allowed to vote. . . . There are three reasons 
why, if you support Radicals, you cannot get employment here 

of Georgia. He began his speech on this occasion with a criticism of 
Hill's ideas. For the Federal cotton tax, see Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 
2nd S., no. 2, p. 5. The increase by Congress of the tax on raw 
CO' ton from 2 to 3 cents per pound and the continuation of the tax 
called forth strong remonstrance North and South. Particularly was 
it protested against by the governors of some of the Southern states 
and the N. Y. Chamber of Commerce. 

* Floridian, Sept. 3 and 10, 1867. Meetings were Aug. 31, Sept. 2nd. 

^ Floridian, Sept. 17, 24. 1867. 

' As for instance at the Waukeena meeting, Sept. 3, 1867. 



486 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

another year. ( i ) Men cannot carry on their farms as they 
have been doing and pay the taxes. Jim, would you be in 
favor of hiring a man who was in favor of taxing you till you 
were ruined? (2) In supporting Radicals you are the sworn 
enemy of the Southern whites of this country. Would you 
hire a man on your plantation that you knew to be your sworn 
enemy?" "No, sir" (in the crowd). "Neither will the 
whites. You secret-league men take care of your crop for the 
balance of the year, for you will need it to take you some- 
where else. (3) In supporting the Radicals you are in favor 
of robbery. It is the promise of robbery (by confiscation) 
that has carried every man of you into the secret leagues. 
Will the whites hire and give support to men in favor of such 
things? . . . 

" We know what you are talking and doing. You are drill- 
ing over the country. You say the Bureau ordered you to 
organize and drill so as to be ready to get your rights this 
winter. What rights do you want? The property of the 
whites ? You intend to fight for it, do you ? . . . Whenever 
you get ready strike the blow, and you will see the hell of ruin 
into which your Radical teachers have brought you." 

The reference to " drilling " and " striking blows " was 
not entirely metaphorical. The blacks were beginning to 
go to secret meetings under arms.^ 

Floridian. June 28, 1867. Gen. Order, no. 30, An. Cyclo., 1867. 
During the spring and summer of 1867 lawlessness and ugly behavior 
among the negroes distinctly increased. For instances : Rape of a 
white woman by black near Calahan Station, East Florida, N. Y. 
World, Oct. 5, 1867, extract from Fernandina Courier; negro mob 
breaks windows of Yulee house at Fernandina, Gainesville "New Era" 
Sept. 21 ; shooting affray between blacks and whites, Floridian, Aug. 
9, 1867; violent entry of a white school house in Leon County by a 
party of blacks in search of a black who was known as a " con- 
servative " in politics, — Madison Messenger, Aug. 9, 1867 ; party of 
blacks try to force entry into the house of a white woman in Madison 
County to get her son who had " insulted one of their number " ; 
negroes in Madison County resist in a body attempts by a deputy 
sheriff to arrest one of them, Madison Mess., Aug. 9. 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 487 

Peeler continued: 

What is the interest of both blacks and whites ? One cannot 
prosper without the other, and whatever is injurious to one is 
injurious to the other. The whites complain that they are 
making nothing. Indeed, they cannot and pay the taxes upon 
them. [He referred to Federal taxes.] You say you work 
all the year and at the end have nothing. Do you know any 
poor men in the country who have land and stock? They 
work much harder than you do. Their wives and daughters 
make homespun — all wear homespun — spun through the week 
— wear home-made shoes ; and yet there is not one in ten who 
can pay his debts. They don't go to town half as often as 
you do. They once could raise their meat — had milk and 
butter all the year ; but now since " freedom " their cows are 
killed, their hogs are gone. They find it hard to live. You 
also complain that, after working all the year, you have little 
or nothing at the end of the year. I will tell you why. You 
plough in $8.00 or $10.00 high-heel boots and wear store 
clothes good enough for Sunday. Your wives and daughters 
sit or lie about the doors of your cabins, dressed in calico, 
wearing gaiter shoes with red tops, that cost $4.00 to $5.00 a 
pair.^ 

The black was not uneasy then over such prosaic eco- 
nomic details as shoes and cotton. Nor did the possibility 
of losing his job throw him into a panic of Conservatism. 
He was interested in politics and " gittin' his rights ". 

Conservatives came together in a state convention at 
Tallahassee on September 25th and 26th. The meeting 
was a sad warning of the party's future. Only five coun- 
ties were represented — Leon, Wakulla, Columbia, Jefifer- 
son, and St. Johns. The number of delegates was small 
but not confined to Southern whites. Some negroes were 
present. The permanent chairman. Major Van Ess of St. 

* Floridian, Sept. 17, 1867. 



488 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Augustine, had been an officer in the Federal army during 
the late war.^ 

The native whites were not exhibiting interest in regis- 
tering. From Walton County, West Florida, came the re- 
port: "I fear this class (negroes, carpet-baggers, and, 
scalawags) will control the county unless a greater interest 
can be awakened." " What is true of Walton is true of 
most of the counties in the state," announced the Floridian:' 

At the end of the first week of August the blacks had re- 
gistered in Jackson County twelve to the whites one; in 
Leon, eleven to one ; in Jefferson, ten to one, and so on. ' 
Why? Contemporary local opinion was that " the whites 
do not register because they are disgusted with Reconstruc- 
tion and have given up the fight," "* and " because of the 
general impression that from the power given the registra- 
tors, who are bitter partisans, they will be denied the right 
of registering." ^ Many whites were too busy wringing a 
meager living from exhausted farms to give much time to 
politics. Others were deterred by a respectful sympathy 
with those disqualified by Federal law from voting; for hun- 
dreds of the best citizens in the state were disfranchised. 
Others disliked the personal contact with crowds of negroes 
at the points of registration, or haughtily refused to ap- 
pear before a board on which sat former slaves.*^ 

^ Floridian, Sept. 27, 1867; An. Cyclo., 1S67. 

' Floridian, Aug. 9, 1867. The date of the report from Walton Co. 
was July 30. 
' Floridian, Aug. 9, and Sept. 17, 1867. 

* Floridian, Sept. 24, 1867. 

* Floridian, Sept. 20, 1867. 

* Floridian, Aug. 2 and Sept. 2, 1867. For ins^^ance a letter from 
Quincy stated : " They [whites] cannot see the efficacy of their now 
mingling in this dirty work, as they consider it, or that any good will 
result from their making any issues or stand against the radical inter- 
lopers among them. But I do not think the masses of the people real- 



ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PARTIES 489 

Was it lack of public spirit, and the existence of race 
prejudice, pride and sentimental sympathy for the disfran- 
chised that forced the whites on toward losing control of 
the state — an impasse that the thoughtful man shuddered 



over 



If the Conservatives were lethargic, their opponents were 
the opposite. With increasing aggressiveness they pushed 
on their campaign. Their most prominent " stumper " was 
Liberty Billings. He and his friends had joined the Os- 
born faction in beating Colonel Hart and the Southern 
loyalist element at the state convention. Now he, the negro 
Saunders, and the ex-treasury agent Richards made a tour 
of the central and western portions of the state. Mass- 
meetings of negroes in Pensacola,^ Ouincy,^ Tallahassee,' 
and Lake City,"* listened to the violent and aggressive talk 
of Billings and his associates. 

The issues in the campaign as presented by Radical 
leaders were sweeping and not burdened with con- 
structive details. The " freedmen " must unite in driv- 
ing the Southern white from control of the govern- 
ment ; the government must be made over in such a 
fashion that the " freedmen " would have their rights. 
Radical meetings were often in negro churches. Religion 
and politics were strangely blended by the negro during 
Reconstruction. At Quincy, Billings declared that " Radi- 

ize the nature of the political contest soon to be enacted in their midst. 
The people seem averse 10 meetings of any kind and appear rather dis- 
posed to leave the track open to the Radicals," etc. 

' Floridian, Sept. 6, 1867 (Billings might not have spoken at Pensacola). 

* Floridian, Oct., 8, 1867. Billings declared here that the " principles " 
of the Republican Party v^rere " homesteads for negroes and equality." 

* Floridian, Sept., 24, 1867. 

* F'oridian, Sept., 6, 1867. Union-Republicans met also at Tampa, 
see Floridian, Sept. 13, 1867. 



490 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



calism was right, but conservatism, sin." At the same 
meeting another white Radical speaker declared that the 
colored people could get along better without the whites 
than the whites without the colored people. " Nothing is 
thought of the inter-marriage between races in Canada," he 
said (received with great applause by the negroes). It was 
such talk as this that developed a sinister aspect to the 
social question involved in Reconstruction. " Billings is 
no fool," observed the Floridian. " The present speaking 
tour is for his own interest." ^ His object was to control 
personally the constitutional convention by becoming 
popular and powerful among the negroes. 

^Floridian. Oct., ii, 1867. 



CHAPTER XIX 
The Constitutional Convention of 1868 

By order of General Pope the election in Florida of 
members to the constitutional convention was held during 
the days of November 14th, 15th, and i6th/ The registra- 
tion boards sat during the first week of October for the 
final revision of registration lists.^ Some names had been 
added and some stricken off. The registrars became elec- 
tion officers or " judges " at the polls in the election which 
followed. As each man deposited his ballot the judge 
" checked in ink " the name of the individual voting from 
the list of registered voters which lay before him. Each 
voter was required to subscribe to an oath and establish his 
identity in the presence of judges of election ere he was al- 
lowed to deposit his ballot. The ballots were collected at 
the county seats and consolidated returns sent in to registra- 
tion headquarters in Jacksonville by the judges of election.* 
Beyond the important fact that most of the election officials 
were pronounced and bitter Republican partisans, this ar- 
rangement seems to have been fair to all. 

* An. Cyclo., 1867. During the few weeks immediately preceding 
the election mass meetings of Radicals and Conservatives were held in 
various counties over the State to nominate delegates and perfect or- 
ganizations for the elections. See Floridian, Nov. 5 and 12, 1867. 

* In this revision of registration lists 766 white voters were added 
and 655 blacks, making the total registered vote 28,003. Compare with 
table in Rhodes, v. 6, p. 83. 

* Report of Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 105; An. Cycle, 1867, 
Circular 8. 

491 



492 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The result at the polls was 14,503 votes cast, of which 
14,300 were for a convention. The total number of regis- 
tered voters was 28,003. This meant that 501 voters more 
than a majority had taken part in the election.^ The de- 
cision, therefore, at the polls — though dependent on a close 
margin — was for the assembling in constitutional conven- 
tion of those persons elected. The Federal law stipulated 
that in each state if the majority of the registered voters 
cast their ballot the result of the election was to stand.' 
Congress had as yet not seen fit to repudiate this law. 

The mass of the whites had refrained from voting. Only 
1,220 white votes were cast, of which 203 were against the 
convention's assembling.^ One individual had endorsed his 
ballot : " I don't give a damn whether the convention is 
held or not." * If all Conservative whites had voted, the 
net result would not have been different. The Conserva- 
tive party had succeeded neither in making Conservative 
voters of the negroes nor in otherwise preventing them 
from voting the Republican ticket. The totality of regis- 

^ An. Cyclo., 1867; Wallace. Carpetbag Rule, p. 49; N. Y. World, 
Dec. 14, 1867. The World's figures vary slightly from other sources. 
Wallace varies from An. Cycle's figures. 

* McPherson, Reconstruction, p. 193, Sec. 3. 

' A''. Y. Tribune, Nov. 19 and 29, 1867 ; Floridian, Nov. 19 and 26, 
1867. The Floridian presents the following analysis of the vote in 
Duval County. " Of the white voters 35 or over I/2 are residents here 
of less than 5 years; 11 are residents of more than 5 years; and only 
8 are Southern born. Fourteen of the Northerners are Federal offi- 
cers; 10 ex-officers in the United States Army; 3 or 4 deserters from 
the Confederate army; and 3 or 4 those who furnished supplies to the 
Confederate army for war purposes. It is proper to say that some 
voted because of personal friendship to Col. Hart, protesting against 
the whole scheme. None of the Jews voted and but one or two 
negroes free before the War." Editor Dyke obtained these figure-i 
from the Charleston Mercury of Nov. 19. 

* Floridian, Nov. 19, 1867. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 ^gT^ 

tered white voters was too small to have carried the elec- 
tion against the negro alignment. 

" The result of the election in Florida is marked and sig- 
nificant in the extreme," stated the Savannah Republican 
shortly after the result was known. 

It is characteristic of the public mind even in that state which 
has been relatively undisturbed by social outrage and excite- 
ment. The white Republicans in the State number about 
2,000, including the native Union element, . . . and about one- 
half of them are said to have voted in the election. . . . The 
Billings Radicals elected but 13 delegates to the Convention, 
the Straight Republicans 31, and the Conservatives 2.^ 

Forty-six delegates were actually returned in this elec- 
tion. Eighteen of them were negroes, and three of these 
negroes were citizens of other states. Of the twenty-seven 
whites, one or two were Conservatives, fifteen or sixteen 
Radical carpet-baggers from the North, and ten or twelve 
Southern loyalist or " scalawags ".^ 

^ Quotation in Floridian, Dec. 3, 1867. See also letter from Jackson- 
ville, A'. Y. Herald, Dec. 2, 1867. 

* Florida Union, Nov. 30, 1867; Wallace, op. cit., pp. 49-50; Rerick, 
Memoirs of Fla., v. i, p. 103 (inaccurate figures) ; N. Y. Times. Dec. 
I, 1867; Floridian, Nov. 19, 1867; Report Secy. War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 93. 

The delegates elected were as follows: ist Dist. (Escambia and San'a 
Rosa Cos.) Geo. W. Walker, Conservative, seat contested and not ad- 
mitted; Geo. J. Alden (Carpet-bagger), Lyman W. Rowley (Radical, 
came into Florida from North before War). 2nd Dist. (Walton and 
Holmes Cos.) J. L. Campbell (Conservative). 3rd Dist. (Washington, 
Calhoun and Jackson Cos.), W. J. Purman (Carpet-bagger) ; L. C. 
Armistead ; E. Fortune (negro); Homer Bryan (negro), .fth Dist. 
(Gadsden Co.) W. M. Saunders (negro) ; Dan. Richards (Carpet- 
bagger) ; Fred Hill (negro). 3th Dist. (Liberty and Franklin Cos.) 
J. W. Childs (Carpet-bagger). 6th Dist. (Leon and Wakulla Cos.) 
T. W. Osborn (Carpet-bagger) ; Joe Oats (negro) ; C. H. Pearce 
(negro) ; J. Wyatt (negro) ; Green Davidson (negro) ; O. B. Arm- 
strong (negro). 7//t Dist. (Jefferson Co.) J. W. Powell; A. G. Bass; 
Robt. Meacham (negro); Anthony Mills (negro). Sth Dist. (Mad- 



494 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

What were the obvious characteristics of these delegates 
chosen by the newly enfranchised? The subtler side of 
their personalities is probably now beyond the reach of the 
investigator engaged in historical research. They have 
left little record behind them. 

Several of the negro members were unlettered — unable 
to read or to write. Two or three of the blacks had evil 
reputations, and would have done better in jail than in 
legislative halls. Of the whites, the native Union or loyal- 
ist element was made up of men of no particular reputation 
— good or bad — and of mediocre enlightenment. The car- 
pet-bag or Northern element — composing about one-third 
of the delegates — contained some men of considerable intel- 
ligence and passable education. The most cultured member 
of the convention, probably, was Jonathan Gibbs, a negro. 

Gibbs was a tall and slightly-built black with a higlT fore- 
head and a color indicating mulatto origin. His voice was 
clear and ringing. He possessed some of the qualities of a 
born orator and a genuine sentimentalist. He was not a 
native of the South. Born in Philadelphia, educated at Dart- 
mouth College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he 
was a fairly successful type of an intelligent black subjected 

ison Co.) R. T. Rambauer; Major Johnson (negro); Wm. R. Cone. 
gth Dist. (Hamilton and Suwanee Cos.) Thos. Urquhart (negro) ; W. 
J. J. Duncan. loth Dist. (Taylor and Lafayette Cos.) J. N. Krim- 
minger. nth Dist. (Alachua Co.) Wm. J. Cessna (Carpet-bagger) ; 
J. T. Walls (negro) ; Horatio Jenkins, Jr. (Carpet-bagger), uih Dist. 
(Columbia and Baker Cos.) S. B. Conover (Carpet-Bagger) ; Auburn 
Erwin (negro). 13th Dist. (Bradford and Clay Cos.) J. C. Richards 
(Conservative). i4tli Dist. (Nassau, Duval and St. John Cos.), N. C. 
Dennett (Carpet-bagger) ; J. C. Gibbs (negro) ; Wm. Bradwell 
(negro); Liberty Billings (Carpet-bagger). 15th Dist. (Putnam and 
Levy Cos.) J. H. Goss ; A. Chandler (negro); W. Rogers; E. D. 
Howse. J6th Dist. (Sumter and Hernando Cos.) Sam J. Pierce. 
i/th Dist. (Hillsborough, Polk and Manatee Cos.) C. R. Mobley. 
i8th Dist. (Valusia, Orange, Brevard, and Dade Cos.) David Magelle. 
igth Dist. (Munroe Co.) E. L. Ware. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 4^5 

to the influence of American theological training and New 
England culture/ Gibbs had been sent into the state from 
the North for philanthropic work among the negroes.^ He 
soon entered politics and was ere long rubbing shoulders 
with cantankerous and thieving ignorance. If he had con- 
tinued preaching in the North — for he was a Presbyterian 
divine — he might have missed political experience, but also 
might have been spared the sad gastronomic end which was 
his. He died before the end of Republican rule, osten- 
sibly from eating too heavy a dinner. It was rumored that 
he was poisoned by fellow Republicans.^ 

In contrast to Gibbs were such negroes as Emanuel For- 
tune, a barely literate negro shoemaker who belligerently 
insisted on making speeches when the occasion did or did 
not offer itself ; * Green Davidson, a violent barber-poli- 
tician, given to incendiary talk about social equality between 
the races and political rights; Joe Oats, a mulatto of intelli- 
gence, of rascally practice, and of suave tongue ; Robert 
Meacham, a mulatto, an intelligent though troublesome 
man, and a living example of the shame of the South. His 
white father had been his master. Robert was reared as a 
domestic servant. Like many of the house servants he be- 
came a preacher.^ After the war he made a local reputa- 
tion as a marital auxiliary among his people, boasting that 
he had married 300 couples since " freedom drapt ". '^ An- 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 220. Letter of Solon 
Robinson, N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 10, 1868. Wallace, op. cit., passim. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 221, 223. According 
to his testimony he came into Florida in 1867. 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 299. 

* See various newspaper reports of Convention's proceedings. Also 
H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 95. 

* Floridian, Jan. 21, 1868; H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, 
pp. 101-9. 

* Floridian, Feb. 5, 1867. 



496 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

other black preacher was Charles H. Pearce, Bishop Pearce 
he was called — a power in prayer meetings and politics, 
popular with the women, said at the time to be a citizen of 
Canada, and later convicted in court for accepting bribes as 
a legislator.^ " Colonel " William U. Saunders, known as 
the " Baltimore negro ", an ex-barber, proved to be the 
most prominent negro politician in the convention as well 
as one of the shrewdest and withal most dangerous men 
there. He was reputed to be a citizen of Maryland." 

A type of Southern loyalist or ''scalawag" was William 
R. Cone. From his own history, which he took occasion to 
relate rather proudly, he had been lacking in definite prin- 
ciples during the late war. He had avoided as long as 
possible enlistment in the Confederate army and at his first 
opportunity had deserted.^ The history of J. N. Krim- 
minger, white, of North Carolina, a delegate from Alachua 
County, was similar. He too had been a deserter.^ 

As a class, the carpet-baggers were intellectually the best 
men among the delegates. W. J. Purman, Thomas W. Os- 
born, and Horatio Jenkins were leaders of this class. The 
last two were ex-officers of the Union army.^ Most of the 
Northerners had been in the state for a year or more and 
were hona-Ude citizens of the commonwealth. Daniel 
Richards and Liberty Billings were exceptions. Richards 
is described by a contemporary Republican as a " sort of 

» N. Y. Herald, Feb. 19 and 20, 1868; Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., 
no. 611, pt. 2, p. 387; H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 165 
and 299. 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 44, 54, 60. 

* Floridian, Jan. 21, 1868. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 176-7- 

* Ibid., pp. 144-5; Floridian, June 23, 1868; Florida Union, Feb. 22, 
1868. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 4.^7 

Uriah Heep specimen of Northern carpet-bagger of moder- 
ate ability and elastic conscience "/ 

All in all, these prospective constitution makers bade fair 
to be rather a motley assemblage, even to an optimist. 
Crass ignorance, inexperience, aggressiveness, vulgarity and 
a mixture of colors were their most protuberant character- 
istics. Seven of the eighteen negro members were ministers 
of the Gospel. It was patent that average enlightenment 
and honesty were more than balanced by stupidity and dis- 
honesty. In this supreme council elected under Federal 
supervision to fashion the state's political destinies, fair- 
ness and experience were deeply shadowed by prejudices 
and ignorance. Florida's government was degraded at the 
hands of the United States. 

Unable to accomplish anything at the polls and having 
failed legally to kill the convention proposition by refrain- 
ing from voting, the Conservative leaders attempted as a 
dernier ressort to hold up the assembling of the body by 
preferring charges of fraud at the election. General Pope 
had been succeeded by General Meade as commander of the 
Third Military District." It was hoped by Conservatives 
that Meade might revoke the orders of his predecessor. 
Charges of fraud in " gerrymandering " the state into un- 
fair election districts, and of irregularity and fraud in vot- 
ing were laid before the new commander, Meade, by a 
committee sent to Atlanta from Florida for that purpose.' 
Meade telegraphed Grant for advice. Grant in reply from 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 54. 

' Rpt. of Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 74, assigned to Third District, 
Dec. 28, 1867 ; An. Cycle, 1868. Pope was not popular with the whites 
of Florida. 

* Rpt. of Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 86, Meade to Grant, Jan. 15, 

1868. An. Cyclo.. 1868; A^. Y. World. Jan. 23. 1868; A^ Y. Times. Dec. 

I, 1868 — Meade's report. Judge Douglas of the state supreme court 
was the committee. 



498 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Washington told him to use his discretion. Meade decided 
not to interfere/ 

Had there been fraud in the elections? Were the Con- 
servative charges honest? The entire election machinery 
v^as in the hands of the Republican party. At the polls in 
Tampa, in Bayport and in Lafayette County came reports 
that ballot-boxes had been tampered with to insure Repub- 
lican victory. In Jackson County Conservatives testified 
that crowds of negroes from Alabama had been brought 
into the state to vote, and did vote.^ To-day no good docu- 
mentary evidence is extant demonstrating that fraud was 

^ Sen. Ex. Docs., 40;h C, 2nd S., no. 30, pp. 7-18. A^ Y. World. 
Sept. 5, 1868, letter from Tallahassee; A^ Y. World, Nov. 4, 1867, dis- 
cussion of false registration in Florida. 

Meade's message to Grant on Jan. 15 was as follows : " Gen. U. S. 
Grant: The Governor of Florida has laid before me and endorsed 
the same a petition numerously signed asking that the order of Gen. 
Pope calling together the Constitutional Convention on the 20th be 
suspended for a period sufficiently long to enable me to decide on the 
questions raised by them invalidating the election of the members. 
The points raised are the violation of the election laws by Gen. Pope: 
I. In the manner of districting the state; 2. In the registration there- 
of; 3. In the conduct of the elections. There is no time for me to 
deliberately examine these points, but there is prima facie evidence 
justifying me in the belief that perhaps, according to my judgment, 
the Reconstruction laws have not been strictly adhered to, at least 
there are grave questions raised. Under this view I am disposed to 
postpone the meeting of the Convention for thirty days, but in this as 
in all cases refrain from acting until advised that you do not dis- 
approve my proposed action." Grant replied immediately by telegraph : 
"Act according to your own judgment about postponing the Conven- 
tion". Meade refused to postpone it but the next day (Jan. 17) tele- 
graphed Grant practically asking him to withdraw any power which he 
(Meade) might have in the matter. Accordingly, Grant replied (Jan. 
17) : " Gen. Pope having practically settled the matter complained of 
by his action before you assumed command of the Third District, it 
is deemed judicious not to interfere with the meeting of the Conven- 
tion at the time ordered by him but leave the whole m.atter to Congress 
for its final action ". Rpt. of Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, pp. 86-88. 

' Floridian, Dec. 24, 1867. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 ^g(^ 

resorted to. There was irregularity. Daniel Richards and 
William Saunders, for instances, were both elected as dele- 
gates from Gadsden County where they had spent only a 
few days of their lives.^ J. W. Childs was sent from 
Franklin County while evidence indicates that his home was 
in Baker County.^ Liberty Billings was returned from 
Nassau County, although a few months before he had sub- 
scribed to an affidavit that he was a citizen of New Hamp- 
shire.^ 

The result of the election brought out an expression of 
public intention from the Conservative Floridian very dif- 
ferent from that which followed the passage of the Mili- 
tary Bill nine months earlier. " We have accepted a hard 
situation within the last three years," it said, " but this is 
a situation which we will not accept. A pure African gov- 
ernment for the State of Florida will not he accepted hut 
will he disputed and contended against zvith every pozver 
that God has given us." * 

The contrast is sharp between the foregoing and the 
pronouncement of the leading Republican journal in the 
state. " The people of Florida have decided in favor of a 
convention," announced the Radical sheet. " Those who 
tried to defeat it as well as those who labored to secure a 
convention are deeply interested in the work to be per- 
formed by that body. It is expected of the delegates that 
they will carry out the Congressional policy in the true 
spirit." ' 

The constitutional convention was ordered by the mili- 

^ Report of Committee on Eligibility, Wallace, op. cit., p. 60. 
■^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 291-3. 

* Rpt. of Comit. on Eligibility. 

* Floridian, Dec. 17, 1867. 

^ Florida Union, Nov. 30, 1867. 



500 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tary commander to assemble on Monday, January 20th, 
in Tallahassee/ Several days before that date delegates 
began to come into town. Most of these early arrivals were 
negroes. Liberty Billings, Daniel Richards, and William U. 
Saunders were particularly active at this time. These men 
were the leaders of the " most Radical " Republicans in 
Florida, and the mass of their following was black. They 
rented a boarding-house in Tallahassee and procured a team 
of mules and a vehicle of some sort. As the negro dele- 
gates arrived in Tallahassee they were met at the railway 
station, put into this carry-all, and hauled to the hospitable 
free boarding-house of the schemers. 

Planning to control the convention by dictating its or- 
ganization, Billings and his associates came together in a 
preliminary meeting or caucus on the Saturday (January 
i8th) preceding the Monday on which the main body was 
to convene. In this caucus — at which twenty-eight dele- 
gates were present — the " Billings men " were organized 
and prepared to act as a body when the convention should 
open formally on Monday. Daniel Richards was named 
for president." 

On January 20th, the convention formally began its ses- 
sion in the capitol building.^ Only twenty-nine delegates 
of the forty-six elected were present.* Some demanded 
delay till all had arrived, but the radical majority willed 
otherwise and rode rough-shod over the minority. Robert 
Meacham, negro, of Jefiferson County, was chosen tempor- 

1 An. Cyclo., 1868. 

^ Florxdian, Feb. 11, 1868; see also account in Wallace, op. cit., 
pp. 47-48. 

' H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. i, Proceedings of the 
Florida Convention. 

* Report Sec. of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 93, cipher telegram, Meade to 
Grant. H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. i. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 



501 



ary chairman. A committee of five was appointed at once 
to nominate permanent officers for the convention. Three 
of the five on the committee were black. Amid exciting 
and incendiary speeches for '' equal rights, education, and 
the ballot-box," the first hours of the afternoon passed. 

The radical committee on nominations submitted its re- 
port, which was at once adopted. Daniel Richards, white, 
was elected thereby president, and thirty other officers and 
employees were installed.^ About four-fifths of the num- 
ber were negroes. 

Richards, on taking the chair, said : " Let us insure to all 
who have not forfeited their rights by treason or rebellion 
a common interest in our laws, our government, and our 
institutions." ^ This statement was a definite declaration 
against those Southern whites for the moment disfranchised 
by act of Congress. It was a suggestion of what might be 
the solution of the suffrage question in the new constitution. 
The Florida Union had stated almost two months before 
that " perhaps the most difficult question is to decide who 
will be given the suffrage." 

" The bottom rail was on top," and those persons who 
controlled the convention were determined to keep it there 
in the future. 

On the second day, January 21st, an ordinance was 
passed unanimously forbidding the sale of property for 
debt, suspending the collection of all taxes, and releas- 
ing from custody all persons held to labor for the non-pay- 
ment of taxes — but not forbidding a laborer to collect 
wages due him from his employer.^ It is obvious this or- 
dinance was passed in the interest of the negro. It was a 
revolutionary measure but thoroughly consistent with the 

' H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. i. 
* FJoridian, Jan. 21, 1868. 
' Floridian, Jan. 21, 1868. 



502 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



convention's character. W. C. Purman, carpet-bagger, op- 
posed its passage. His opposition marks the beginning of 
open contest in the convention between radical Republicans 
and w^hat might be termed moderate Republicans.^ 

Seventeen committees v^ere appointed by President Rich- 
ards on January 22nd, the third day. On all of the im- 
portant committees w^as either Saunders or Billings with 
enough negro allies to control. On the important com- 
mittee on privileges and elections sat both Saunders and 
Billings. This committee was composed of " three per- 
sons only, all of whom were charged by moderate Republi- 
cans with being ineligible to seats in the convention." ^ 

Almost immediately the committee on privileges and 
elections brought in a report which denied to the conven- 
tion the power to pass on the eligibility to seats in the con- 
vention of those elected. Purman opposed the adoption 
of this report. The contest over eligibility had begun. It 
was the issue which split the convention. The radical ele- 
ment desired the question of eligibility left alone because 
several of its leaders might lose their seats if their qualifi- 
cations were seriously probed into. Richards, the presi- 
dent, was said to be still a citizen of Illinois; Saunders, of 
Maryland ; Billings, of New Hampshire ; and C. H. Pearce, 
of the Dominion of Canada.^ Therefore " the President 

' Floridian, Jan. 21, 1868. For six months the 'Radical Party in 
Florida had been broken into hostile factions. The campaign for 
registration and for election to the convention demonstrated this. The 
contest between Moderate and Radical Republicans in east Florida was 
bitter. In Jacksonville " each crowd alternately call meetings and abuse 
and blackguard the other crowd. Many torch-light and drum proces- 
sions, etc. Not much difference in the ultimate designs of either fac- 
tion," Floridian, Nov. 12, 1867 (letter from Jacksonville.) 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C. 2nd S., no. 114, p. i ; Floridian, Jan. 28, 1868. 

* Rpt. of Comit. on Eligibility. Wallace, op. cit., p. 60. Billings had 
been in Florida since 1864 and Richards had come into Florida in 1866 
but had gone out of the State. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 ^03 

ruled that no question could be entertained touching the 
eligibility of members, and it was impossible to obtain a 
two-thirds vote, which was necessary under the rules 
adopted, to sustain an appeal from the chair, especially as he 
allowed the parties interested to vote upon the subject." ^ 
Richards and his friends were aggressive. They demanded 
of the state treasurer that all public monies be turned over 
to the chairman for the use of the convention. The treas- 
urer refused and the radical chairman then forged an 
order from the military commander to force obedience to 
his demand. The state official still refused to act. 

The more conservative men, such as Purman, Osborn, 
and Jenkins, resented the high-handed and exclusive con- 
trol exercised by Billings, Richards, and the negroes. A 
few Radicals expelled from the convention would leave 
that body in control of the " Moderate " Republicans. At 
this time the two factions were almost evenly balanced, 
with three or four delegates in doubt. 

The first week of the convention's session was taken up 
with boisterous and disorderly speech-making, debate, and 
parliamentary squabbling barren of useful results. The 
hall was filled not only with gesticulating delegates, but 
with gesticulating employees and lobbyists as well, admitted 
to the floor to make demonstrations for the Richards and 
Billings faction. By the end of the week the convention was 
hopelessly split into two factions. One faction — the more 
conservative — was composed of all white delegates but 
three and of one or two negroes, and bore the title of " Op- 
position ", " Johnson Party ", or " The Lobby ".^ The 
man spoken of as the dominating personality among mod- 
erate Republicans was Harrison Reed, Federal post-office 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2 S., no. 114, p. i. 

' A^. Y. Tribune, Feb. 8, 1868; N. Y. Herald, Jan. 28, 1868; Floridian, 
Feb. 4, 1868. 



504 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



agent for Florida. He was not a member of the conven- 
tion but was present in Tallahassee, where he was alluded 
to as " Johnson's agent "/ 

The other party or faction had practically all the ne- 
groes — sixteen or seventeen — and three white men. It was 
slightly in the minority, but well organized and in control 
of the committees. The arbitrary rulings of Richards, 
president, hindered the Opposition.^ Most attempts at 
constructive work by the Radicals were held up by the 
Opposition with its menace of more votes. Constitution- 
making was forgotten in the contest over which faction 
should rule. The legitimate work of the convention was 
at a dead-lock. 

The fight was one between nearly a white faction and a 
black faction ; between Radical or Congressional Republi- 
cans and Conservative or Johnson Unionists ; and to some 
extent between those politicians who held Federal office 
and those politicians who did not hold Federal office.^ The 
technical difference between the factions was the question 
in Florida of the eligibility of certain members to seats in 
the convention. The fundamental difference was the ex- 
istence in national politics of a bitter feud among Repub- 
licans. At that moment in Washington Radical Republi- 
cans were preparing to drive President Johnson from office 
by impeachment. 

' Letter of Solon Robinson, N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 8, 1868. 

* N. Y. Herald, Jan. 23, 1868. The Convention was governed by the 
Rules of the National House, with slight alterations. H. Misc. Docs., 
40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 3. 

Richards ruled that no question touching eligibility could be enter- 
tained ; that the majority had no appeal from his rulings; and he 
refused at pleasure to yield the floor to the Moderate faction. 

' H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, pp. 4, 9. Of the 22 Moder- 
ate Republicans and Conservatives 13 were ex-officers of the Union 
army. Osborn was Federal Register of Bankruptcy; Hart, who en- 
tered the Convention late, Supt. of Registration ; Purman, Bu. Agt. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 186S -05 

Was it race prejudice that made the " Johnson Party " 
at Tallahassee so nearly a white man's party? While there 
is a tendency for men of the same color to cling together in 
time of contest among peoples of various colors, we find in 
this case that those individuals who opposed the black party 
in the convention, at a later date harmoniously and inti- 
mately associated politically with negroes. Most of the 
whites there were elected by black votes. 

By the last of the month affairs had reached a critical and' 
irritating stage. " The Hall is more like a gladiatorial 
arena than a sober convention of delegates to form a con- 
stitution for a state that is almost in a condition of anar- 
chy," wrote Solon Robinson to the New York Tribune.^ 
The Radical faction claimed that 

threats were openly made by the Conservative Johnson office- 
holders that no constitution should be made or business done 
until the organization of the Convention was broken up. Con- 
servative Republicans, both in and out of the Convention, began 
to caucus day and night, with the leading rebels freely ad- 
mitted to their councils, to devise ways and means to over- 
throw the Radicals. The principal hotel in the city was opened 
freely to the delegates who would act with them, and who 
were all poor — many of them had not money enough to pay 
their board bills with. Whiskey flowed free as water. Money 
was used in abundance to corrupt the delegates, which was 
like tendering bread to a starving man.^ 

Stormy weather swept over Tallahassee and vicinity. 
Clear, cold days followed. Ice and frozen mud lay in the 
town's unpaved streets. Flowers died from the snappy nip 
of the winter atmosphere, and people sought warm inter- 
iors. The hotel corridor and the '' parlors " of boarding- 
houses were lively with the talk of politicians, black and 

1 A^. Y. Tribune, Feb. 8, 1868. ' Ibid. 



3o6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

white, dickering over the doings in the convention cham- 
ber. When the winter sun sank below the horizon and the 
semi-tropical sky of that latitude gave forth the strange 
sheen of a short, cold twilight, cotton-field and woodland, 
lake and brook, town and outlying homestead became 
serenely engulfed for a few moments in the weird opales- 
cent glow that moves on eternally somewhere just ahead of 
a clear winter night. The restless, motley crowd on the 
main street of Tallahassee did not linger. White rowdies 
clad in jeans and " chawin' and spittin' " ; an occasional 
" lobbyist " from the North, bored-looking, well-groomed 
and seeking scrip or concessions; negro wenches decked in 
finery, reeking in cheap cologne, and seeking men; negro 
bums and politicians seeking women ; and Federal soldiers 
seeking treats — all moved happily and thankfully into the 
glow of cabin, bar, billiard-parlor, or cheap hotel. This 
was now part of legislating. Tallahassee had never seen 
the like before, but it was to be worse shocked ere Recon- 
struction had run its course. Toddies circulated as freely 
as gossip among men seated before blazing fire-places with 
their " fronts roasting and their backs freezing ". " Damn 
these Southern houses," said the man of the North think- 
ing wearily of home and a more honorable past. " God- 
damn these Northern Radicals," said the Conservative who 
could not vote. 

January 29th the committee on privileges and elections 
brought in its second report. A more or less violent and 
foolish debate of two days' duration followed.^ Each fac- 
tion seemed afraid to put the matter to a vote. Money had 
been spent by lobbyists, and leaders did not know who 
might purposely vote wrong when the issue came. On the 
vote might hang the character of Florida's government in 
the immediate future. The issue was therefore important. 

^ iV. Y. Tribune, Feb. 10, 1868. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 



507 



Finally several men counted as possible moderate Re- 
publicans were reported to have gone over to the Radical 
wing. On the night of January 31st, N. C. Dennett, of 
Jacksonville, was called home by a telegram saying that his 
wife was dying. The Radicals claimed that they had a 
majority.^ They took advantage of their chance. The re- 
port on eligibility was promptly put to vote, and the whole 
matter was laid on the table till March ist. By that date it 
was expected that the convention would have finished its 
labors and dispersed. The body then adjourned till Feb- 
ruary 4th. ^ 

The conservative Opposition had lost hope of control. 
They determined to break up the convention or force a 
compromise by withdrawing. Such action would destroy a 
majority quorum, as only forty delegates had qualified at 
Tallahassee. Accordingly eighteen members seceded in a 
body. They went to Monticello, a neighboring town, where 
they began work as a sort of independent constitutional 
convention.^ Here they were joined by three delegates who 
had not qualified at the original convention. 

Constitution-making in Florida had reached a ridicu- 
lous impasse. Neither body could muster a majority of the 

1 Robinson in N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 20, 1868; N. Y. World, Feb. i, 
1868. Dennett had been elected in opposition to what was known as 
the Hart or Moderate Republican ticket in East Florida. At the time 
of the election Dennett was known as a Radical Republican but in the 
Convention he identified himself with the white or Moderate Republi- 
cans. See Floridian, Nov. 26, 1867. 

Gen. Meade states that 40 delegates were present in Tallahassee. 
See Rpt. Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 93 — Meade to Grant, Feb. 12, 1868. 

* Floridian, Feb. 11, 1868; A^". Y. Tribune, Feb. 10, 1868. The move 
to adjourn came from the Moderate men. The Radical leaders at- 
tempted to defeat it but several of the negroes voted wrong. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd. S., no. 114, p. 2. Wallace, op. cit., 
pp. 67-74. Rpt. Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 93. Accounts differ in 
detail. 



5o8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

delegates elected. Twenty-one sat at Monticello ; twenty- 
two, at Tallahassee; but forty-six had been elected.^ 

The "Rump Convention" in Tallahassee petitioned Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Flint, of the Federal military, to seize four- 
teen of the leading seceders and bring them back by force 
if necessary to the state house. Flint refused to act.^ 

The abbreviated body left in Tallahassee, undismayed 
by irregularities, decided to continue in session and transact 
business, regardless of the fact that it contained only 
twenty-two members, less than a majority. One of its first 
acts was to vote $50,000 in state scrip to pay its expenses.'^ 
The pay of members was to be $10 per day and mileage 
at the rate of 40 cents per mile. The salaries were to begin 
not on January 20th, when the delegates began their labors, 
but on December 28th, the day of the promulgation of Gen-^ 
eral Orders No. no formally calling them together. This 
meant twenty-three days pay before the convention con- 
vened.* $15,000 were appropriated for printing alone — 
but William U. Saunders managed to retain v$ 10,000 of the 
amount for himself.^ The clerks, messengers, porters, and 
pages were paid from $10 to $20 per day. The ac- 
counts of the negro, Paul Crippen, financial agent, were so 
confused that later it was impossible to tell for what much 
of the money was expended. $14,861 was paid out by 
Crippen.*^ " Such a system of extravagance," stated a Re- 
publican committee of investigation, " if persisted in will 

' Rpt. Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 93. 

* Floridian, Feb. 11, 1868. 

* Such action was authorized by the Reconstruction Law of March 
23, 1867, Sec. 8, — McPherson, Reconstruction, p. 193. 

* //. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 2. 

^ H. Misc. Docs., 40' h C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 8, Report of Committ. 
of Investigation. Wallace, op. cit., p. 53. 
« Ibid. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 ^09 

not only bring the State to the verge of bankruptcy but will 
impoverish its citizens, prevent immigration and forever 
retard the growth and prosperity of the State." ^ 

February 8th the " Rump Convention " adjourned for 
one week, having adopted a constitution, the most notable 
features of which were: i, the barring from public office 
of all who had in any fashion supported the Confederacy; 
2, the disfranchising of all who had " given aid or com- 
fort " to the " Rebellion " after having held office under the 
state or the United States.^ The constitution is said to 
have been made in Chicago and brought into Florida by 
Daniel Richards, president of the convention.^ It was laid 
before General Meade in Atlanta by Delegate J. H. Goss, a 
scalawag and one-time deserter from the Confederate 
army.* 

The " Rump " then organized itself into a nominating 
convention and chose from its members present a full state 
ticket : governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, 
member of congress, and superintendent of education.® 

The " seceders " returned in a body from Monticello to 
Tallahassee on the evening of February loth — " not wish- 
ing a day should elapse without the convention being in 
session." *' Near midnight they quietly slipped into the 
convention chamber in the state house and proceeded to 
organize.^ To assure a majority they induced the military 

1 Wallace, op. cit., p. 53. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 109, — " History of Constitu- 
tional Convention " by Richards and Saunders. Wallace, op. cit., pp. 
359. 366. Constitution, Art. 6, Sec. 3; Art. 15. 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 57. 

* A^. Y. Herald, Feb. 7, 8, 11, 1868. Wallace, op. cit., p. 57. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 2. 

* Ibid., pp. 2, 3. 
' Ibid. 



5IO 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



to arrest two members of the other faction, drag them from 
beds, and bring them to the hall/ Twenty-four delegates 
were then present. Forty-six had been elected originally 
to the convention. 

A protest against Daniel Richards was adopted by unani- 
mous vote, and Richards was declared deposed as presi- 
dent.^ Thomas W. Osborn, ex-army officer, nominated 
Horatio Jenkins, Jr., for the vacant place. He was 
elected.^ Thirteen of the twenty-four members present 
were ex-army officers. The newly-organized convention 
then proceeded to discharge from service those persons em- 
ployed by the " Rump ".* 

The next day news spread through the town and into 
the surrounding country. Negroes crowded the streets. 
Secret societies were active. Wild talk was indulged in. 
A mob of blacks under white leaders threatened to attack 
the reconstituted convention.*^ Federal troops stood guard 
near the state house." Several of the Radicals deserted 
their faction and came over to the Opposition ensconced 
in the capitol building. 

The Opposition could now command an absolute ma- 
jority.^ It proceeded to adopt a constitution fashioned in 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 109, p. 2. This was denied by 
the other side, see Doc, no. 114. 

' H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, pp. 3-4. Four of the 
twenty-four were negroes, two having been brought into the hall by 
the military. 

' Florida Union, Feb. 22, 1868. H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd .,.,. 
no. 114, p. 4. 

* Floridian, Feb. 11, 1868. Wallace, op. cit., pp. 57-58. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 2. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 59, Appendix, pp. Z7'^-72> \ H- Misc. Docs., 40th 
2nd S., no. 114, pp. 2, 7. 

'' N. Y. Herald, Feb. 11, 1868; N. Y. Times, Dec. i. 1868; .Y. Y, 
World, Sept. 5, 1868. Twenty-nine members were present. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 ^^ 

Monticello. It was a fairly liberal document, patterned 
somewhat after the constitutions of Vermont and Missouri 
and including all salient demands in the Congressional plan 
of reconstruction/ By it blacks and whites would be 
granted the suffrage on equal terms — no class being pro- 
scribed politically for previous condition or " rebellion ". 
Local offices with few exceptions would be filled by ex- 
ecutive appointment ; county courts continued ; a new sys- 
tem of circuit courts created ; and specific limitation put 
on the county representation in the legislature.' No county 
could have more than four representatives in the assembly. 
This last provision — the limitation of county representation 
— was a vital part of the proposed constitution. For Florida, 
at that time, its incorporation as a part of the fundamental 
law was of peculiar moment. The limitation would pre- 
vent the few populous negro counties from .completely 
dominating the government and Africanizing the state. 
The situation was a desperate one. The men who con- 
trolled the making of this instrument — Republicans — un- 
doubtedly planned deliberately to keep the balance of power 
in the hands of whites. 

This provision of the proposed constitution was bitterly 
attacked before General Meade and Congress by a com- 
mittee of Radicals from the " Rump Convention ". " By 
the apportionment provided for in said constitution ", 
stated the protestants, " less than one-fourth of the regis- 
tered voters will elect a majority of the state senate, and 
,ss than one-third will elect a majority of the assembly. 
6,700 voters in the rebel counties elect as many senators as 
20,282 voters elect in the Union counties." This was sub- 

' See comments in N. Y. Herald, Feb. 15 and 16, 1868. 
' See Constitution, H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114. Arts. 
I, VI, and XVI. 



CI2 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

stantially true. '" It grants suffrage to and removes all dis- 
abilities from the vilest rebels and haters of the Govern- 
ment," continued the protestants, " and permits them to be 
elevated to places of power and trust without regard to the 
Reconstruction Acts of Congress, and disfranchises thou- 
sands of the colored voters." ^ This was a silly lie. Re- 
publicans themselves branded it as a " wilfuU and malicious 
falsehood ".^ 

The constitution was the joint product of moderate Re- 
publicans in the convention and certain native white Con- 
servatives (not Republicans) who had no place there. ^ The 
" Opposition ", " Johnson Party ", or " Seceders " had the 
sympathy and support of Governor Walker and the native 
whites throughout the state. What was of more immediate 
importance, they had the sympathy of the Federal military 
commander in Tallahassee. They had acted in disregard 
of law, precedent, and General Pope's orders when they 
marched out of the convention hall, when they met in 
Monticello, and when they reassembled in Tallahassee. Yet 
they received not only the protection but the aid of the 
Federal military.* The conduct of the " Seceders " toward 
the existing state government and the native white Con- 
servatives of Florida was in sharp contrast to that of the 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 109. p. 5 ('Report of Saunders 
and Richards). 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 9 (Report of Gleason 
and Alden). 

* I draw this conclusion from the friendly relations of Conservative 
leaders and the leaders of ihe Moderate Republican faction. Rerick, 
Memoirs of Florida, v. i, p. 305, says : " Through the influence of Gov. 
Walker, Capt. Chas. Dyke. Editor of the Floridian, and others who 
continued to use their political skill for the welfare of the State, the 
constitu'ion (which was the same as that made at Monticello) con- 
tained an apportionment for legislative purposes, etc." See also 
Wallace, op. cit., p. 372 ; and H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 109. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, pp. 2, 7; no. 109, pp. 2, 3, 4. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868 -13 

Radicals. It indicated at least a sentiment of conciliation 
and respect instead of hostility and contempt.^ 

Republican Radicals North and South clamored not only 
for negro enfranchisement but for the proscription of as 
many Conservative whites as possible. "A proscriptive 
policy will tend to widen the breach which now exists in 
Southern society," stated the men who made the " Sece- 
ders' " or Monticello constitution, " and create a spirit of 
jealousy and strengthen the feeling of animosity toward 
the supporters of the Government. The constitution has 
been framed by men who understand the situation and 
who believed it was far better to extend the olive branch of 
friendship to those who have hitherto opposed the Gov- 
ernment than place them in a position of perpetual out- 
lawry." ^ 

General Meade, informed of the trouble in Florida, left 
Atlanta for Tallahassee. " I must now decide on the legal- 
ity of the acts of the 22 who present a constitu- 
tion," he telegraphed Grant. " Are 22 members of a body 
to which 46 were elected, 40 organized and 3 subsequently 
appeared competent to discharge the functions assigned by 
law to the Convention? " ^ 

Grant was inclined to simplify matters as well as please 
a Radical Congress by accepting the work of the Radical 
" Rump Convention " in Tallahassee. The constitution pro- 
posed by that body would disfranchise whites and throw 
the control of the government into the hands of the negro 

^ Floridian, Feb. 18, 1868. The seceding convention formally re- 
quested of the Governor the use of the capitol building; congratulated 
the governor on his refusal to turn over the money in the state treasury 
to the Convention ; and expressed regret that discourtesy had been 
shown him. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 11. 

* Meade to Grant, Feb. 12, iS6S,—Rpt. Secy. War, 1868-9, v. i, pp. 93-4 



514 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



counties/ " Has not the convention in Florida expelled 
some of its members-elect as ineligible to seats?" Grant 
telegraphed Meade. " If so is not 22 members a quorum 
and are not the expelled members among the seceders ? " ^ 

Meade reached Tallahassee on the 17th of February.^ 
The Radical Billings faction, refusing to take part in the 
" seceders' convention ", was holding indignation meet- 
ings in the public square, negro churches, and secret society 
lodge rooms.* Meade was conciliatory. He tried by per- 
suasion to have the two factions come together and re- 
organize. Both presidents, Richards and Jenkins, were 
finally induced to resign.^ 

During the afternoon of February i8th, with Colonel 
Sprague in the chair, the convention was reorganized." The 
" Seceders " or conservative faction triumphed. Horatio 
Jenkins was re-elected president by a vote of thirty-two to 
eight, and Billings, Richards, Saunders, and Pearce were ex- 
pelled by a vote of twenty-five to sixteen on the ground that 
not being citizens of Florida, they were ineligible for 
political office.^ The vigorous course taken by the military 

^ H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 109. Eight counties (Jackson, 
Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Madison, Alachua, Marion, Duval) heavily 
dominated by black votes would control Senate and House. 

' Rpt. Secy, of War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 94. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114. This report says he 
arrived on i8th; no. 109. A^. Y. Herald, Feb. 18, 1868. 

* N. Y. Herald, Feb. 15, 1868. 

^ H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 7; no. 109, passim; 
Wallace, op. cit., pp. 373-374 — Meade to Richards, Feb. 18, 1868. 
N. Y. Herald, Feb. 19, 1868. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 7. 

' H . Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 6, 7; no. iog;N. Y. 
Herald, Feb. 19 and 20, 1868. Wallace, op. cit., pp. 60 and 62. J. E. 
Davidson and M. L. Stearns replaced Richards and Saunders ; Rich. 
Wells replaced C. H. Pearce and Col. O. B. Hart (afterwards Repub. 
Governor) Liberty Billings. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 186S -j^ 

and the influence of General Meade's presence were suffi- 
cient to make negro Radicals, who had been absenting them- 
selves, take again their places in the convention. The body 
once more could command an absolute majority. Febru- 
ary 25th, the Monticello constitution was adopted by a 
vote of twenty-eight to sixteen.^ By ordinance of the con- 
vention this document was to be submitted to the votes of 
the people on May 6th, 7th, and 8th.^ The convention ad- 
journed sine die, and the episode of making a constitution 
to suit Congressional ideas was closed. The black was en- 
franchised.^ 

The Radical element had been beaten, but not without the 
help of the Federal military. The negro members had acted 
as a body practically and had followed the most radical and 
bitter leaders of the Republican party in Florida. They 
and the black electors had been won by promises and by 
money. Something more than desire for petty political 
office drove on Southern Republicans in the rush to obey 
Congress. Later developments in Florida give strong cred- 
ibility to a statement made at this time by Republicans that 
'' a scheme had been on foot and a ring formed to obtain 
possession of the railways of the State. This ring was 
composed of the leaders in the minority Convention and 
parties in New York by whom money was furnished." * 

The end of this constitution-making episode was only the 
beginning of Florida's Reconstruction troubles. The worst 
was to come. The Conservative whites, defeated in the 

■ Floridian, Mch. 3, 1868; A^. Y. Herald, Feb. 26, 1868. It was fin- 
ally signed by all 44 members present, — H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd 
S., no. 114, p. 31. 

* N. Y. Herald, Feb. 25, 1868. 

* See Constitution, Sec. 14, H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, 
p. 24. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, p. 7. 



5i6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

elections, were already beginning to physically assault Re- 
publicans, black and white, in desperate efforts to break 
their grip on the ballot-boxes and the government. This 
meant violence, often of the worst form. It meant the 
saddest part of the Reconstruction ordeal — peace sought 
through means of midnight assassination, riot, and terror. 
Such misfortune developed under Republican rule. 



BOOK IV 
REPUBLICAN RULE 

" The difficulty is in the diversity of the races. So strongly drawn 
is the line between the two in consequence, and so strengthened by 
the force of habit and education, that it is impossible for them to 
exist together in the same community where their numbers are so 
nearly equal as in the slave-holding States, under any other relation 
than that which now exists. 

" Social and political equality between them is impossible. The 
causes lie too deep in the principles of our nature to be surmounted. 
But without such equality, to change the present condition of the 
African race would be but to change the form of slavery. It would 
make them slaves of the community instead of the slaves of in- 
dividuals." 

John C. Calhoun, Rpt. on Abolition Petitions, Feb. 4th, 1836, — 
Cralle, v. 5, pp. 204-5. 



CHAPTER XX 

The Inauguration of a Republican State 
Government 

The struggle over the issues of Reconstruction revived 
the Democratic party within the state of Florida. The 
militant Democracy of the South six years earlier led the 
state from the Union. The conservative Democracy of 
the Union now stood opposed to the Congressional plan of 
bringing Florida with restored rights back into the Union. 
The processes of political alienation and war through which 
the South had passed had brought to an end within its 
borders the old Democracy. The processes of political and 
social rehabilitation through which the South began to 
pass when the war had ceased developed anew within that 
section this once powerful, once radical and reckless, and 
now overthrown and discredited party. The rebuilding of 
" Democracy " South, which was evident when Conserva- 
tive opposed Radical in 1867, was nearly consummated 
when Democrats faced Republicans in the state and Presi- 
dential elections of 1868. What came to pass was as in- 
evitable as it was obviously logical. Democrat was a term 
to conjure with. Intimately associated with the most spec- 
tacular events of the entire nation for more than a genera- 
tion, linked to the body of memories — sweet and other- 
wise — of many million citizens North and South, the most 
powerful political machine of the Middle Period, the politi- 
cal organization out of a section of which, as from a rib of 
Adam, had been evolved in a sense the Confederacy itself, 
a party which had certainly done things, and which at this 

519 



520 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

time, 1867-68, was the powerful national opponent organi- 
zation of the then arrogant and victorious Union-Repub- 
lican Party, — verily " Democracy " came to life throughout 
the Southern states revived by even its past sins, recrystal- 
ized by the desperation of the Southern whites, and disci- 
plined by the exigencies of the present. 

Except for a limited infusion of former Whigs, " Union 
men ", and Northern Democrats lately come South, the per- 
sonnel of the Democratic party in Florida was substantially 
the same as it had been in 1861. Then it was a radical 
party of political change founded upon the reactionary 
principle of state rights; now it was a conservative party 
of political reaction founded upon the simpler principle of 
white supremacy. 

In the town of Quincy, Florida, on March 31st, 1868, 
just a year after the inauguration of military rule, Conser- 
vative politicians came together for a conference. Their 
immediate object was to make nominations for the elections 
to be held when, according to the orders of General Meade,^ 
the newly-framed constitution should be submitted in May 
to the votes of the people.^ Opposition to the adoption of 
the proposed constitution was here announced as the policy 
of the Conservative party. No one knew then just what 
constitution Congress would finally submit to the voters of 
Florida. Congress was radical, and the Radicals of Florida 
had laid before the Reconstruction committee in Washing- 
ton an instrument which if adopted would bar from politi- 
cal office and the ballot-box a leading class of Southern 
whites and incidentally deliver the state government into 
the hands of eight negro counties.^ There was ample reason 

' Gen. Ords., no. 41, issued by Meade from Atlanta, Mch. 16, 1868; 
supplementary order Mch. 17, — An. Cyclop., 1868-9. 
' Florida Union, Apr. 4, 1868; Floridian, Apr. 7, 1868. 
* H. Misc. Docs., 4th C, 2nd S., no. 109. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 521 

why Southern whites should oppose this part of Congres- 
sional reconstruction. 

A ticket was chosen non-sectional in character, giving 
recognition to those classes which were then being fused 
into the new Democracy: namely, ex-Confederate (former 
Democrats and Whigs), Southern Unionists (former 
Whigs, mostly), and men from the North.^ The three 
well-defined sections of the state were considered, and the 
candidates picked from West, Central, and East Florida. 
George W. Scott, of Leon County, was nominated for 
governor. Scott was a former Democrat who had fought 
in the Confederate army. Thomas W. White, of Jackson 
County, was nominated for lieutenant-governor.^ White 
was an ex-Whig and had been a Unionist during the war. 
John Friend, of Nassau County was nominated for Con- 
gress. Friend was a Northerner and a Federal office- 
holder. Presumably he was a " Johnson man " with a 
Democratic past. 

The nominations were eminently respectable and seem- 
ingly wise.^ Political meetings in several towns quickly 
ratified the decision of the state convention. In Pensacola, 
Lake City, Ouincy, Monticello, and Tallahassee endorse- 
ment was voted amid lively campaign speeches and slapdash 
resolutions.* Most men of property were in the ranks of 

' See references to this point, — H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S.. no. 22, 
V. 13, p. 147; Wallace, op. cit., p. 17, etc. 

' White declined the nomination, Floridian, Mch. 14, 1868. Jas. W. 
Hall of Escambia Co. was nominated for lieut.-gov. to replace White, 
— Floridian, Apr. 4, 1868. 

* Floridian, Apr. 7, 1868. 

* Meetings in Leon Co. and Gadsden Co. — Floridian, Apr. 7 and 14, 
1868; at Pensacola, Escambia Co. — Floridian, Apr. 21; in Jefferson 
Co. — Jefferson Gazette, Apr. 17, Floridian, Apr. 28; Lake City, Colum- 
bia Co. — Floridian, May 5, etc. 



522 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

the Conservative party. Yet in spite of this fact and of 
meetings, resolutions, and speeches, the Democratic cam- 
paign did not go forward with decision and vigor. ^ Some- 
thing was wrong. Probably the new leaders who had re- 
placed to some extent the ante-bellum chiefs were lacking 
in experience. The negro vote was about as unresponsive 
to Conservative influence in the spring, as it had been in 
the previous autumn.^ 

Republican leaders meanwhile were trying to harmonize 
the discordant elements of their party. In the constitu- 
tional convention during February a very savage disagree- 
ment had been unveiled.^ It will be remembered that two 
constitutions had been adopted and sent to the reconstruc- 
tion committee of Congress. One came from the radical 
" Rump " convention under the control of Billings, Rich- 
ards, and Saunders ; the other, from a reorganized conven- 
tion controlled by more moderate men and advised by the 
military. General Meade sent his approval with the latter,* 
which did not proscribe politically a class of one-time 
Confederates, as did the " Rump " convention's constitu- 
tion. 

Radical leaders in Washington took the matter under ad- 
visement, and finally on April 14th the Reconstruction com- 

' See letter of Scott, Floridian,- Apr. 7, 1868. 

' The Federal military anticipated serious attempts at economic 
coercion by the southern white planter of his negro employees. Gen. 
Ords., no. 41, callinj the election, stated that "no contract or agree- 
ment " with laborers made for the purpose of controlling their vote 
would be permitted to be enforced against ther.!. A-,:. Cyclop., 1868-9. 

' The Radical Party was actively holding mass meetings, see Florida 
Union. Apr. 4, 1868; Floridian. May 5, 1868. At a Radical meeting 
in Tallahassee on May 2 the speeches were so violent and incendiary 
that the military interfered, — Floridian, April 28, 1868. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 297. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 



523 



mittee put its approval on the more liberal instrument en- 
dorsed by General Meade/ 

This pronouncement by Republican leaders in Washing- 
ton helped create Republican solidarity in Florida, but failed 
to bring complete harmony. Liberty Billings, Daniel Rich- 
ards, and the men with them prepared to oppose the adop- 
tion of the constitution and the election of the regular 
Republican ticket because the constitution rejected by Con- 
gress came from the radical faction, which Billings and 
Richards led. The regular Republican ticket had been 
chosen by the members of the constitutional convention im- 
mediately after the last formal adjournment.^ It in- 
cluded Harrison Reed, ex-journalist and Federal postal 
agent, late of Wisconsin, for governor;^ William M. 
Gleason, lumberman and land speculator, also late of 
Wisconsin, for lieutenant-governor ; ^ and Charles M. 
Hamilton, an ex-officer of the Federal army and Freed- 
men's Bureau, late of Pennsylvania, for Congress.^ No 
one of the three had been in the constitutional convention. 

^ A^. Y. Times, Apr. 5, 1868. Thad. Stevens and Chief Justice Chase 
both endorsed this instrument. 
^ An. Cyclop., 1868-9. 
» FI. Ex. Docs., 38th C, 2nd S., no. 18, p. 88. 

* Floridian, July 7, 1868. Concerning Gleason's career the following 
hostile account is taken from the La Crosse (Wis.) Dent., 
" Gleason was a resident of Eau Claire not long since. In 1856 he 
was engaged in the loyal occupation of returning votes for a town- 
ship in Eau Claire Co. where no election was held, and was them en- 
gaged in bank speculation that did not add much to his reputation 
for honesty. After Gleason left Wisconsin he bought an interest in 
the Crawford Co. Bank located at Meadeville, Penn., but was un- 
successful to swindle the public to any great extent. After the failure 
of the bank he engaged in various enterprises — among others in ob- 
taining money upon worthless checks, for which he was arrested, and 
the records of the Eldridge St. jail there show that he was an in- 
mate for some time." 

* For biographical comment see N. Y. World, Sept. 22, 1868. 



524 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The other faction ("Rump Convention"), it will be re- 
membered, had named a state ticket before dispersing. 
Billings was to be governor. All of the nominees had 
been delegates to the convention. 

The negro leader, Saunders, who had worked inti- 
mately with Billings and Richards, changed about suddenly, 
quit his former political associates, and publicly declared 
that he would support Reed and the constitution.^ He 
attacked in speech his old associate Billings, stigmatizing 
him publicly as a " liar ", a " seducer ", and " a carpet- 
bagger ".^ Saunders had influence among the negroes. 

The independent Republican nominees made a cam- 
paign.^ Billings hoped to control the negro vote through- 
out the state as he had done recently in the convention. 
He preached to the blacks in their churches, kissed their 
babies, and told them that " Jesus Christ was a Republi- 
can." * His auditors moaned approval sometimes and 
sometimes howled him down when he attempted to speak. 
He and his friends were in fact out of the regular Republi- 
can organization, with its many tentacles reaching like 
the fingers of a devil-fish the individual negro through the 
Freedmen's Bureau, Lincoln Brotherhoods, Union Leagues, 
African Methodist Episcopal and colored Baptist churches. 
Federal office-holders and negro schools.^ He and Rich- 
ards withdrew from the contest before the election, beaten 

'See letter of Saunders — Floridian, Apr. 21, 1868; also Floridian, 
Apr. 14 — reference to a statement by Saunders in the Florida Union, 
Apr. II, giving reasons for change. Saunders claimed that the "Bill- 
ings Party " owed him $897.00. 

* Floridian, Apr. 28, 1868 — see extract from Jefferson Gazette, Apr. 14. 

* Floridian, Apr. 21, May 5, 1868. Billings campaign was hottest in 
West and Central Florida. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 6^. 

' Floridian, Apr. 28, 1868. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 525 

or bribed. Samuel Walker, the nominee for lieutenant- 
governor, strangely enough, stayed in the field. 

Thus the Republican party in Florida went into the 
spring elections of 1868 with ranks divided. Its strength 
lay in the black vote. It was a black-man's party shrewdly 
and unscrupulously led by a few score carpet-baggers and 
scalawags.^ 

Radical leaders were bent on crushing out completely any 
hope of Conservative success. In the voting for delegates 
to the then recent constitutional convention several thou- 
sand whites had been disfranchised under the Federal Re- 
construction Laws. Would the same proscription be made 
in the voting for the constitution and for a state govern- 
ment under it? Now that a constitution was formed, 
would its very provisions admitting the proscribed whites 
to the polls and to office be respected? Would the voting 
be governed by the new constitution or the Federal laws 
of March 2nd and 23rd, 1867? These were the most acute 
political questions before the people during the spring of 
1868. 

The recent convention had decreed that the provisions of 
the constitution be applied on election day, admitting to the 
polls those whites barred out by the Reconstruction Law. 
General Meade, military commander, was importuned by 
Radicals in Florida not only to annul the ordinance of the 
convention admitting disfranchised whites to the polls, but 
also to order that the election in question be held one month 
earlier than the convention had fixed it — in April instead of 
May.^ What was the object in such haste? Several thou- 

* C. 'R. Mobley, a Republican member of the state senate, estimated 
that the number of carpet-baggers in the State would not exceed 300, 
— Floridian, Aug. 11, 1868. Two years earlier J. W. Recks, Federal 
treas. agent, estimated the white Union vote at 300. H. Rpts., 39th C, 
1st S., no. 30, p. 3. 

^Rpt. Sect. War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 95 — Meade to Grant, Feb. 29, 1868; 
p. 99; Meade to Grant, Mch. 13. 



526 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



sand whites were still unregistered/ If the election came 
before they could register, the local Republican party would 
gain thereby. The Radicals insisted that if the Southern 
whites were given a chance they would defeat or delay 
Reconstruction. There was truth and logic in the conten- 
tion. Meade asked Grant, head of the army, for advice, 
and Grant advised allowing all to vote according to the 
terms of the constitution framed and then to be voted on.- 
Meade followed the advice herewith given. 

The election passed off quietly on May 6th, 7th, and 
8th. ^ For fourteen days prior to the opening of the polls 
the registration lists were in process of revision. Pre- 
viously disfranchised whites now admitted to the suffrage 
were enrolling. The voting was for governor, lieutenant- 
governor. Congressmen, and members of the legislature, 
as well as for the adoption or rejection of the constitution. 

" Scott may poll five votes to Reed's one, and Reed will 
be elected," A. A. Knight declared. " We've got the whole 
thing in our hands — the ballot-boxes, the registrars, the 
mail agents, and all." * A few weeks later Knight was 

* 11,148 whites were registered up to date. 13,698 were registered 
for this election. The normal voting strength of Florida in 1861 was 
about 14,000. See chapter in " Registration and Political Organi- 
zation," supra. 

=■ Rpt. Sect. War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 96. 

» Ibid., 1868-9, V. I, p. 103— Meade to Grant, Apr. 8; N. Y. Herald, 
May 8, 1868 — dispatch from Key West. 

* Tallahassee Sentinel, May 7, 1868. This conversation of Knight's 
attracted attention. It was quoted in the Floridian, and Knight was 
asked by J. B. Oliver, editor of the Sentinel, to repeat the statement 
in the presence of a witness, which he did, adding: "Billings and 
Walker have got off here [the conversation was on a railway train] 
to hold a Billings meeting called to meet here by their friend Cone. 
Billings wrote to Cone to assemble. Billings' letter went to the train. 
We [Knight and his friends] went on the same train that carried 
the letter. We opened it and wrote another one saying : ' Dear Cone ; 
there is no chance for us. Go for the Reed ticket. Tell your people '. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 



7 



appointed to a circuit judgeship by the new governor. 
The Conservatives claimed that just such fraud as Knight 
had arrogantly hinted at had been perpetrated. Their 
claims for some localities were authenticated — as such 
things can be by affidavits and other testimony.^ The vot- 
ing had gone heavily against the Conservatives. But it 
was not fraud on the part of Radical election officials 
which defeated them. The fundamental reason was failure 
to have enough registered votes at the party's disposal — 
poverty of Conservative white votes. The registered blacks 
far outnumbered the whites, and they went solidly with the 
Republican party. 

The result was substantially what it had been in the 
autumn elections for a convention. Many whites had re- 
mained away from the polls. If all had voted the net re- 
sult for the state would not have been different. 14,561 
votes were cast for the constitution; 9,511 against it. It 
was therefore adopted by a large margin. The Republican 
ticket headed by Reed received 14,421 votes, the Demo- 
cratic ticket headed by Scott, 7,731; and the independent 
Radical ticket headed by Samuel Walker, 2,251. 24,403 
voters cast their ballots.^ The total number of registered 

We signed ' Liberty Billings ' to it and put it in the old envelope and 
sent it to Cone, and Cone — a darn fool — thought it was all hunky." 
This is a suggestion of one way for Republican postal officials to 
help beat the enemy. 

* A^ Y. World, June 25, 1868, — 5 affidavits presented from Madison 
Co. ; Floridian, May 12, 1868. Madison Messenger, May 8, 1868, stated 
that the regis' ration books showed 1.554 whites and blacks voted, 
yet 1800 ballots were taken from the box. The Republicans carried 
the county. Also, An. Cyclop., 1868-9. 

* Rpt. Sect. War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 106, Meade to Grant, June 2. Fig- 
ures in Floridian, June 9, containing the vote in detail by counties vary 
somewhat from Meade's figs. According to them 14,520 votes were 
cast for consti'ution, 9,511 against it. Reed received 14,178 votes, 
Scott 7,852 and Walker 2,257. The statements in the Floridian are 
later than those of Meade. Also, Floridian, May 12. 



^28 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

voters was 31,498. Thus 7,095 did not vote. The regis- 
tration books showed 13,698 white voters and 17,800 
black.^ 

At high noon, on June 8th, Governor Reed was sworn 
into office by Judge Thomas Boynton — late of Ohio — of 
the Federal district court. The oath was administered in 
the presence of both branches of the newly-elected legis- 
lature assembled in the capitol building at Tallahassee.^ 
Reed was a little man, slightly built, with a big, bald head 
and a bushy beard — almost goat-like — the upper lip shaven 
clean. A full fringe of hair on three sides of the bald spot, a 
high forehead, and heavy spectacles gave him an owl-like 
appearance, which accentuated his calm moderation and 
well-poised personal address. His views on public questions 
were usually balanced, definite and clear — due perhaps to 
his long journalistic and business experience; and his way 
of doing things, not clear, often smacking of commercialism, 
and suggestive of just that training in the competitive 
sphere of business and politics which made him definite, 
concrete, and plausible. For many years Harrison Reed 
had been a publisher and editor, first in Milwaukee and later 
in Neemah and Madison, Wisconsin. " Reed is a fussy 
old granny," wrote an East Florida Republican, Calvin 
Robinson, to Reed's arch-enemy, Stickney, " but I think he 
is honest and sincere." Stickney had written : " Reed hangs 
around like the itch. I can hardly meet him without spit- 
ting in his face." ^ He finished his denunciation by calling 
him a " damn fool ". Stickney had been stealing from the 
Federal government. Reed had opposed his plans, and 
hence these statements. A citizen of Wisconsin, called to 

' The registration lists had been revised — ^Gen. Ord., no. 41, Mch. 16. 
"^ Floridian, June 9, 1868; A^. Y. Herald, June 14, 1868; N. Y. World, 
June 17, 1868. 

^ H. Ex. Docs., 38th C, 2nd S., no. 18, p. 6. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 



529 



testify before a committee of Congress, said of Reed : " He 
is generally regarded in the State as a high-minded, honest, 
and honorable man. I never heard his truth and veracity 
questioned. As a business man his character is that of a 
prompt and honest man who always pays his debts." ^ 

His career in Florida showed him to be shrewd, com- 
bative, and intriguing in dealing with men, but not 
smooth. He moved with a high hand — as a benevolent 
political boss. 

He turned from the judge and the Bible to address the 
future legislators of Florida. As his eyes swept that little 
gathering of lawless law-makers he must have had sad 
misgivings. Nearly a third of those assembled were from 
party reasons hostile to him, and the majority of the others 
were negroes and whites whose enlightenment was veiled 
and whose reputations could not be easily damaged. "Once 
assembled they will do as they please," wrote General 
Meade a week earlier — " pass laws inconsistent with my 
powers and orders; and tax ad libitmn the State treasuries 
without any control, and without any means of enforcing 
their acts except through me." ^ 

The legislature chosen was preponderantly Republican. 
In the senate were sixteen Republicans and eight Demo- 
crats ; in the house, thirty-seven Republicans and fifteen 
Democrats.® Of these seventy-six senators and represen- 
tatives thirteen were denominated as " carpet-baggers ", 
twenty-one as Southern loyalists or " scalawags ", nineteen 
as negroes, and twenty-three as white Conservatives or 

' H. Ex. Docs., 38th C, 2nd S., no. 18, p. 88, testimony of J. F. 
Potter before Committee investigating Florida tax commissioners. 

» Rpt. Sect. War, 1868-9, v. i, pp. 105-6. 

' Floridian, May 9, 1868. N. Y. Herald, June 14, 1868. The Con- 
stitution provided for 53 members in the assembly. See Const., Art. 
16, Sec. 29, H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114. 



roQ RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Democrats. The Conservative representation came from 
the poor white counties, outside of the great plantation dis- 
trict. Most of the Republican legislators came from the 
Black Belt — the richest and most populous portion of Flor- 
ida. The editor of the Floridian stated that if the Demo- 
crats were not considered, a fair estimate of the wealth of 
the other fifty-three members, minus the value of their 
clothes, would be less than $i,ooo. It is certainly true that 
the Republican representatives, as a class, were not exten- 
sive property-holders in Florida or out. Some of them at 
the time of their election were Federal office-holders. 

At that moment the status of the legislature was as 
uncertain as that of the small man in spectacles who stood 
addressing its members with his hand on the Bible. Re- 
construction was being directed by the Federal govern- 
ment and the reorganized state governments in the South 
received their authority to exist from its sanction. The 
Federal military had controlled and directed the election in 
Florida as well as the canvassing of the votes. The con- 
vention had ordered that all returns be sent to the state 
canvassing board. The military commander interfered and 
ordered all returns sent to the state superintendent of regis- 
tration. Certificates of election were issued by the military. 
" My object," said Meade, " was to retain control of the 
whole subject, because if the legislature is permitted to 
convene without orders from me and without regard for 
the paramount authority which the Reconstruction Laws 
vest in me, interminable confusion and conflict of authority 
will be sure to follow." ^ 

On June 9th, the day following the first meeting of the 
legislature. Reed laid before the body a number of tele- 
grams which helped explain the actual position of the new 

' Rpt. Sect. War, 1868-9, v. i, p. 105. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 531 

State government of Florida.^ Colonel Flint, commanding 
Federal troops at Tallahassee, had telegraphed General 
Meade for instructions in regard to the proper policy of 
the military toward the reorganized civil government. 
Meade answered through his adjutant-general stating that 
the military was to acknowledge in no way the newly-insti- 
tuted government until Congress had approved of its ex- 
istence. The legislature adjourned until June 15th. 

The Radical Republicans in Congress were expending 
their efforts to bring Florida and five other commonwealths 
back into the Union at an early date.' The Presidential 
election was approaching and the political restoration of 
the South was desired by Republicans because the vote of 
that section, now dominated by crushing negro majorities, 
would be for them. Johnson continued to oppose the policy 
of Congress. He vetoed the bill which would admit to 
Congress representatives from those reconstructed South- 
ern states whose legislatures would ratify the Fourteenth 
Amendment. The bill became law on June 25th, over the 
President's veto.^ 

Both houses of the Florida legislature had given their 
assent on June 9th to the amendment.* During June 17th, 
i8th and 19th, the legislature had chosen United States 
senators.^ Adonijah Strong Welch, white, late of Michi- 
gan and then a teacher in a negro school, was elected for 

' Floridian, June 16, 1868. Gov. Reed was in touch with the Wash- 
ington authorities. He had been in Washington during May, — Flori- 
dian, May 26, 1868. 

* Dunning, Reconst. Polit. and Ec, pp. 1 18-19; Rhodes, U. S., v. 2; 
Floridian, June 23, 1868, report on Florida Const, by the Lower House 
of Congress, June 12. 

* McPherson, Reconstruction, pp. 337-8. 

* The house 23 to 6; the Senate 10 to 3. Flack, Adoption of Four- 
teenth Amendment, p. 190; McPherson, Polit. Man., 1868, p. 93. 

* Floridian, June 23, 1868. 



532 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



the short term ending March, 1868; and Thomas W. Os- 
born, one-time bureau commissioner, late of New Jersey, 
for the long term ending in 1873/ 

Osborn was admitted to the Senate June 30th," after 
some wrangling over his credentials and a last attempt by 
Conservatives to force a consideration of the claims of the 
other senators-elect. Call and Marvin. Senator Doolittle, 
in bringing up the latter's case, said: "In 1866, almost a 
year and a half after the war was over, after peace had 
been proclaimed and Congress had by law recognized the 
fact that peace was proclaimed, the legislature of Florida — 
the state being then in a peaceful condition — assembled and 
elected the person to whom I have referred and whose cre- 
dentials I have presented to the Senate." ^ But the Senate, 
controlled by Radicals, paid little heed to such talk. Os- 
born was sworn in ; Welch followed him on July 2nd.* 
Charles M. Hamilton, late of Pennsylvania and now Con- 
gressman-elect from Florida, took his seat in the House on 
the first day of July. Thaddeus Stevens presented his cre- 
dentials." 

Reconstruction in Florida had progressed favorably so 
far by the last of June that General Meade proceeded to 
bring to an end military rule there. June 29th he notified 
Colonel Sprague, commanding in Florida, to prepare to re- 
linquish the administration of affairs to the civil authori- 
ties.® Gov<irnor Walker informed Governor-elect Reed 

1 N. Y. World, Sept. 22, 1868 ; Floridian, June 23, 1868. 

2 Cong. Globe, 40th C, 2nd S., pt. 4, p. 3607. Also N. Y. Times, July 
I, 1868; N. Y. Herald, July i, 1868. 

' Cong. Globe, 40th C, 2nd S., pt. 4, p. 3604. 

* Ibid., p. 3672. * Ibid., pp. 3614, 3655. 

' Gen. Ords., no. 92 — "All civil officers holding office by military ap- 
pointment " were directed to turn over their offices to their properly 
elected and qualified successors. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 533 

that he was prepared to surrender the office to him.' On 
the following day, July 2nd, Reed announced to Colonel 
Sprague that the conditions precedent to the readmission 
of the state into the Union had been complied with. 
Sprague thereupon issued a proclamation stating that civil 
government would be resumed on July 4th. ^ The transfer 
of authority was formally made on that day in the presence 
of both houses of the legislature assembled in joint ses- 
sion.^ The day was celebrated by the " loyal " over the 
state for both historical and immediate reasons. The per- 
iod of military rule was over, and the state's political des- 
tinies were in the hands of negroes and newcomers.* On 
July 31st, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal con- 
stitution was formally ratified by the Florida legislature. 
Thus the state before the end of summer passed with re- 
stored political powers back into the Union. The Congres- 
sional plan of reconstruction had been applied. More 
than one citizen, probably, wondered how it would work 
out. 

In the local application of actual government throughout 
Florida much depended upon the state's chief executive. 
The new constitution provided that all county officers ex- 
cept constables be appointed by the governor with the con- 
sent of the senate. The governor could remove all such 
officers without the senate's consent.^ Thus much power 

* Walker to Reed, July i, An. Cyclop., 1868-9. 

' McPherson, Polit. Man., 1868, pp. 59-61 ; An. Cyclop., 1868-9. 
' An. Cyclop., 1868-9. 

* On July 27 the War Dept. at Washington discontinued the 2nd and 
3rd. Military Dists. and grouped the states constituting them into 
the Dept. of the South. On August 4 Col. Sprague issued an order 
that Florida was now the "Dept. of Florida". On Aug. 5, U. S. 
mili'ary forces in Florida were ordered to be concentrated in three 
military posts in different parts of the State. — An. Cyclop., 1868-9. 

' Constitution, Art. 6, Sec. 19 — H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., no. 114, 
pp. II-3I. 



534 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

was lodged in the central administration at Tallahassee. 
While this provision protected the Black Belt from com- 
plete negro domination, yet it subjected the white counties 
to Republican control. The situation would have been re- 
versed under an elective system. 

This system of creating county government by executive 
appointment did not prove in itself a bad plan. Governor 
Reed circumspectly used his power. The new executive 
seemed honestly seeking to establish a respected and strong 
government for Florida, backed by a Republican party 
with a creditable reputation.^ The task was a difficult one. 
Proper material was lacking within the Radical ranks. 

Reed sought to divide the offices between carpet-baggers, 
scalawags, and negroes — admitting even white Conserva- 
tives. The latter on accepting office under a Republican 
administration did not necessarily lose caste as Conserva- 
tives. By August 25th, the governor had appointed 198 
white men to office within the state, 50 of whom were from 
the North and 148 from the South." In the newly-consti- 
tuted supreme court, two of the justices were Southern and 
one Northern.^ All three were men of good character and 
substantial reputation in their profession. In the state cir- 
cuit court, five of the judges were Southern and two North- 

* See speech made by Reed at St. Augustine, Aug. 26, from Fla. 
Union; in A^ Y. Times, Sept. 14, 1868; also, his speech before Jackson- 
ville Board of Trade. He here made an earnest appeal to his friends 
and enemies to help him carry on a decent govt. ; Floridian, Nov. 
3, 1868; also Floridian, Dec. 15, 1868; speech at Tallahassee, N. Y. 
World, Dec. 22, 1868. 

* Floridian, Aug. 25, 1868. 

' The Chief Justice was Ed. M. Randall, a Northern man, brother 
of the Postmaster General. The associate justices w^ere O. B. Hart, 
a native Republican and during the War a Union man ; and James 
D. Westcott, Jr., a Southerner — son of former U. S. Senator Wescott, 
a Democrat, Floridian, Aug. 11, 1868. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 



535 



ern/ Of the white county officials, 134 were Southern and 
thirty-nine Northern.' In Reed's own cabinet, six were 
Northern and two Southern — the most important position 
at the time, that of comptroller, being filled by an aristo- 
cratic Southerner, former Whig and ex-Confederate, Rob- 
ert H. Gamble, of Tallahassee.^ The attorney-general was 
James D. Wescott, another Southerner from the same class 
who had supported the Confederacy and held slaves. 

The governor gave political recognition to negroes. The 
total number of county offices at his disposal was 468. In 
addition he could create as many justices of the peace as he 
wished.* Scores of these offices — probably the majority — 
were filled by negroes. Many of the black incumbents could 
neither read nor write. Black voters had elected the gov- 
ernor and the senate. The chief executive, therefore, in 
admitting them to office only gave to the majority of his 
backers the recognition which they demanded. Some of 
them were slightly above barbarism, but the inevitable end 
of the Reconstruction program was to call forth to places 
of administrative and judicial trust, " loyal men ", regard- 
less of enlightenment and fitness. 

Governor Reed should be given the credit of appointing 

^ Floridian, Aug. 11, 25, 1868. ist Circuit, Judge H. G. Plantz and 
Atty. D. C. Hawkins ; 2nd., Judge W. A. Cocke, Atty., F. A. Dockray ; 
3rd., Judge T. T. Long and Atty. J. W. Warrock ; 4th., Judge A. A. 
Knight, Atty. E. K. Foster; 5th., Judge J. H. Goss, Atty. J. W. 
Culpepper ; 6th., Judge J. T. Magbee, Atty. C. R. Mobley ; 7th., Judge, 
J. W. Price, Atty. Oscar Hart. 

' Floridian, Aug. 25, 1868. 

» See letter in A''. Y. World, September 17. 1868. 

* See Constitution of 1868, Art. 6, Sec. 19; Art. 7, Sec. 7, 9 and 19. 
The officers appointed by the Governor were: a county tax assessor 
and collector, treasurer, surveyor, Supt. of Common Schools, five 
county commissioners, sherifiF, and clerk, county judge, twelve officers 
for each county. There were then (1868) 39 counties in Florida. 



536 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

a good supreme court, a fair cabinet, a circuit bar and 
judiciary of rather uneven respectability and ability, and 
county officials not altogether bad — probably better than 
what would have been the case if the offices had been 
filled by election. The only local officers elected were 
county constables — from two to twelve for each of the 
thirty-nine counties/ Negroes were usually returned for 
these positions. The governor undoubtedly found it diffi- 
cult to get good men to accept office, and to induce the 
senate to confirm his nominations when he found them. 
" The governor was forced," stated a Republican, 

to appoint men as county judges and solicitors, some of whom 
it was very doubtful as to whether they had ever seen the 
inside of a law book. Many of the carpet-bag officeholders, 
anterior to their advent in the South, had been blatant Demo- 
crats at the North, but not even respectable cross-road poli- 
ticians, yet who now claimed to be great men and proper 
leaders of the colored people of the State." 

Before local Republican rule in Florida was inaugurated 
the national presidential campaign had opened. Delega- 
tions from the state attended both great national conven- 
tions.^ In Chicago the Southern delegates arrived weakly 
prepared to vote for Henry Wilson or Fenton, for second 
place on the national ticket, but soon they began to turn 
in various directions.* The nomination of Grant for 
first place was assured. " We are poor and want money," 
was the constant complaint. A friend of Wade is 
said to have gone to one of the Florida delegates 
with the request that he and his confreres support 

1 Constitution, 1868, Art. VI. 

^ Wallace, op. cit., pp. 82-83. 

' N. Y. Herald, May 21 and July 8, 1868. 

* N. Y. Times, May 21, 1868; A^. Y. World, May 29, 1868. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT -^^y 

Wade. The thrifty Floridian wished to know what Wade 
would do for him. " Why," said he, " if I go for Fenton 
I can get my expenses paid to this convention." ^ How- 
ever, when the acclaim went up for Grant, it is recorded 
that " Florida, the land of flowers, casts her vote for 
U. S. Grant." ^ It is not recorded that the expenses were 
paid. 

The Conservatives of Florida sent a group of locally- 
prominent and able men to represent the state at the Demo- 
cratic convention in New York. Several of them were ex- 
Confederates and ante-bellum leaders.^ They took an 
active part in the work of the convention.* In the long 
balloting for a nominee the vote of Florida swung from 
Johnson to Hancock, then to Doolittle, then to Hendricks, 
then back to Hancock, again to Hendricks, and finally with 
the others, the Florida delegation followed the political law 
of the " band wagon " and went for Seymour, the nomi- 
nee.^ 

The Presidential campaign in Florida opened with a 
Republican ratification meeting in Tallahassee July 4th. 
On this day the Republican legislature and administration 

^ -V. Y. World, May 29, 1861 ; H. M. Moody of Fla. was one of the 
vice-presidents of the Chicago Convention, — A''. Y. Herald, May 21, 
1861. 

* iV. Y. Herald, May 22, 1868. 

' The Florida delegates were 22 in number, — A'^. Y. World, June 
30, 1868. 

* C. E. Dyke was appointed to Nat. Dem. Ex. Commit., — N. Y. 
Times, July 8, 1868. C H. Smith was a Sect, of Convention ; Thos. 
Randall, a vice-pres. ; Wilk. Call, member of Committ. on Resolutions 
and Platform ; A. J. Peeler, of Commit, on Organization ; A. H. 
Hewling, of Comit. on Credentials, — N. Y. Herald, July 5 and 7, 1868 
Dyke delivered an address before the Metropolitan Club in New York 
City on the political situation, — N. Y. World, July 29, 1868. 

5 A^. Y. Herald, July 8 and 9, 1868; A^. Y. Times, July 8 and 10, 1868. 



338 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

formally took over from the military the direction of the 
state government. A special train was run from Jackson- 
ville. " Probably the largest crowd was here, ever before 
at any time," the Floridian announced. Negroes streamed 
up and down the streets. There was " much marching and 
counter-marching, beating of drums and shouting. The 
chief object was the ratification of the nomination of 
Grant and Colfax." A large platform was built on the 
west side of the capitol building, around which were var- 
ious inscriptions, such as " Grant and Colfax ", " Liberty 
and Union, We'll have or Die ", etc. During all of that 
scorching, sun-baked July day the " Capitol Square " was a 
mass of moving, odoriferous, and garrulous humanity, and 
" as the procession moved down the streets there could be 
seen various covered boxes carried on poles bearing Radi- 
cal inscriptions." ^ 

In spite of two crushing defeats within nine months the 
Conservative party seemed to take on a greater activity 
and a new aggressiveness. Over the entire state many per- 
sons previously passive in a sort of political hibernation 
now crept out of their holes and exhibited interest in that 
which their more pugnacious friends had been trying to 
make interesting. The Presidential campaign promised to 
produce a solid and full alignment of native whites in sup- 
port of the Democratic party. The Conservative forces of 
the state now coalesced into an integral part of the Demo- 
cracy of the nation. In more than a score of localities, 
from extreme West to East, Democratic campaign clubs 
were formed; "Seymour and Blair Clubs", they were 
popularly called.^ Democratic orators stumped Florida, 

^ Floridian, July 7, 1868. 

* Floridian, Aug. 11, 18; Sept. 5, 22, 29; Oct. 20, 1868. At Orlando, 
Florida, on Aug. 29th a Conservative mass meeting was followed by 
a parade with inscribed banners borne by young girls. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 539 

and county after county, catching from the nation at large 
the political note in the air, awoke to the contest/ 

On August 1st a Democratic state convention assembled 
at Tallahassee. The heat of summer enveloped the land. 
It burned up enthusiasm as it distilled the last odors from 
fast fading flowers. Yet delegates from twenty-six coun- 
ties came through the heat over Florida's crude routes of 
travel to talk politics at the capital.^ Nearby counties sent 
big delegations to swell the crowd. " Whigs, Democrats, 
and Conservatives mingled in a common cause." Ex-Gov- 
ernor Walker was nominated for Congress, but on account 
of failing health he declined. William D. Barnes, of Jackson 
County, West Florida, received the nomination.^ The day 
was blatant with political speeches. In the evening a 
'' torch-light procession " wound its course along the prin- 
cipal streets and lanes. The way was well shadowed from 
the pale glow of the stars by monster live oaks — twisted, 
knarled, vaguely outspreading and draped in the grey Span- 
ish moss of the far South. The very obscurity and sug- 
gested mystery of the shadows made the political trans- 
parencies the more brilliant. They gleamed out grotesquely 
with such fierce aphorisms as : " No Compromise with the 
Carpet-baggers ", " Military Subordinate to the Civil ", 
" One Currency for All ", *' Freedmen's Bureau and Rob- 
bery ", " Put in 300 Ticks, in the Ballot-Box and Count 

^ Floridian, July 21, Sept. 22, 25, 1868. Mass meetings in Gainesville, 
Aug. 2, — extract from Gainesville Commercial; speeches by W. D. 
Bloxham, St. George Rogers, C. E. Dyke and Wilk. Call. Barbecue 
and speeches at Centre; orators were Barnes of Jackson Co., Dyke 
of Leon Co., Stanley of Escambia Co. Similar meetings at Waukeena, 
Marianna, Madison, and Crawfordsville, — Floridian, Oct. 27 and Nov. 
5, 1868. The Floridian contained many excerpts from the accounts 
of local press. 

^ Floridian, Aug. 4, 1868. 

3 A^. Y. Tribune, Aug. 15, 1868 ; N. Y. World, Aug. 10, 1868— letter 
from Tallahassee ; Floridian, Aug. 4, 1868. 



540 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

out 500. Gadsden Is the Place Where Ticks Propagate ", 
or even worse, such witticisms as " Radicals, You Have 
Seen much but you Shall See-More in November ", "Demo- 
crats, Grant-less and See-More " . A string band seated in 
a wagon attracted attention away from the poorness of the 
puns. From vine-covered verandas people watched the 
crowd move by through the dim light.. Straggling troops 
of negroes, who a few weeks before had marched with the 
Radicals, now followed the music of the other procession. 
To-morrow they would be Radicals if a procession and 
music came along. 

The Republican party had secured control of the state 
government. They intended not to risk this control, but 
to withdraw from the realm of uncertainty the electoral 
vote of Florida. Accordingly the legislature enacted a 
law on August the 6th which left to the joint action of the 
senate and house the choice of presidential electors.^ Both 
bodies were overwhelmingly Republican. Therefore the 
Democratic campaigning in Florida, so far as the national 
election was concerned, amounted to nothing more than a 
series of indignation meetings against the Radical party.^ 

' Laws of Florida, 15th Assembly, 1st Sess. See Comment N. Y. 
Times, Aug. 8, 1868; A^. Y. World, Aug. n, 1868; N. Y. Tribune, 
Oct. 27, 1868. 

' Threats were made by conservatives to have an election regardless 
of the state law. A letter from Jacksonville, Sept. 11, discussing the 
situation says: "The [Democratic[ Executive Commi'tee will appoint 
the necessary judges and inspectors of election for Nov. 3 next. At 
sundown the polls will be closed, votes counted, and the votes sent 
to Washington. The Radicals laugh at this plan, saying that there is 
no possibility of Congress receiving these votes. The Democrats are 
carrying on a vigorous campaign. The Radicals make no opposition. 
They consider the plan Quixotic. Whether the State Government will 
permit the vo'e to be taken is a question not yet answered. The 
carpet-bag officials regard the entire movement as illegal and a revo- 
lutionary defiance of the laws of Florida, but opinions differ as to 
what course they will pursue." N. Y. Herald, Sept. 26, 1868. 



A REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT 541 

Governor Reed claimed that the state at that time could 
not stand the expense of another election. The Democrats 
claimed that the Republicans feared that they would lose 
the election. Negro registration was several thousand 
greater than white registration. Yet the local Republican 
party was then subject to serious internal dissension. It 
had been divided in the last election. Also the operations 
of Democratic regulators were in several localities a terri- 
fying menace to Republican activity. The governor and 
the legislature had already requested the President to put 
Federal troops at the disposal of Governor Reed in order 
to protect the state government and the lives and property 
of Republicans. The President, on the advice of General 
Schofield, Secretary of War, refused to grant so radical a 
request.^ 

Local conditions, therefore, might have defeated the 
Republicans. What actually happened however was that 
on November 2nd the legislature convened in joint session 
and by a safe vote chose three Republican electors for 
Grant and Colfax. One of them was a negro. ^ 

' Johnson Papers, — Resolution of Fla. Legislature, July 9; letter of 
Reed to Johnson, July 13; Johnson to Schofield, July 22; Schofield to 
Johnson, July 23. 

* N. Y. Herald, Nov. 5, 1868. The electors were : Jas. D. Green 
(white), J. W. Butler (white), Rbt. Meacham (Black). The Demo- 
crats put up candidates for each place ; — W. D. Bloxham, Wilk. Call. 
G. A. Stanley. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Conflict Among Radicals — Two Governors of 
Florida 

The next few days witnessed the development in Talla- 
hassee of an interesting imbroglio among Republican poli- 
ticians. Its origin is to be sought in the flat failure from 
the first of Florida Radicals to work together harmon- 
iously. When they gained control of the state govern- 
ment and the restraint of military rule was removed, the 
discord became more pronounced. Leaders fought vic- 
iously over the control of Federal patronage, legislative 
favors (franchises, land-grants, etc.) and the many positions 
at the disposal of the state administration. The legislature 
elected Thomas W. Osborn to the United States Senate for 
the long term ending in March, 1873. His previous experi- 
ence in Florida as bureau commissioner and politician as 
well as his ability and talent for intrigue made him the 
senator through whose hands passed most of the scanty but 
much-desired Federal patronage for the state. He used 
this privilege to build-up his own influence within his 
party. 

Governor Reed had been a Federal office-holder of local 
importance for several years. As general postal agent for 
Florida he had played a part in distributing Federal favors. 
Reed was considered a Johnson man. Osborn acted in har- 
mony with the Radical majority in Congress. He had left 
the Freedmen's Bureau to fill the more remunerative place 
of Federal commissioner of bankruptcy. He obtained this 
542 



CONFLICT AMONG RADICALS 543 

position through the efforts of Chief Justice Chase/ Reed 
was bitterly opposed to Chase and those allied with him. 
Thus these two men — Osborn and Reed — both seeking to 
manage the award of Federal patronage, were allied with 
antagonistic factions in Washington. 

Within the state almost one hundred post-masters, six 
judicial offices in two district courts, a commissioner of 
bankruptcy, about fifty customs employees, fifty treasury 
employees, two public land officers and two internal revenue 
officers held their places and received their salaries from the 
Federal government. Their salaries amounted to about 
$75,000 per year; their total earnings, to far more than 
this. Mail contracts amounted to $50,000 more.^ Osborn 
sought to control the award of places and funds. So did 
Reed. The senator and the governor were neither like- 
minded nor friendly.^ They both sought ultimately the 
same thing — state leadership among the Republicans. 

The appointing power of Reed under the new constitu- 
tion undoubtedly put into his hands a means for building-up 
a strong personal following. More than 500 officers held 
their places under commissions from the governor. But he 
was forced to regard the likes, dislikes and advice of the 
state senate, which ratified his appointments. A number of 
that body were in close sympathy politically with United 
States Senator Osborn. He had given or promised them 

' Floridian, June 23, 1868. 

^ U. S. Official Register, 1867. 

' Reed to Wallace, Feb. 1867 — Wallace, op. cit., p. 441. Reed wrote: 
" On that occasion a conspiracy was formed by Osborn and his mili- 
tary satraps — to depose me by violence and take possession of the 
Capitol. This was within a few months after my inauguration in 
consequence of my refusal to obey their dictation to vandalize the 
State ... It embraced all the prominent Federal office-holders in the 
State, from the marshal down, most of whom were in the legislature, 
subject to orders from Osborn under penalty of removal." 



544 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

and others Federal positions or jobs. He could help the 
worthy to places beyond the state. The United States gov- 
ernment paid in greenbacks and gold ; the state government, 
in depreciating scrip. Cash was scarce in Florida. The 
favors at Osborn's disposal were worth more than those at 
the disposal of Reed. The political influence of the gov- 
ernor tended to be neutralized by the United States sen- 
ator.^ Reed was combative and troublesome. Osborn 
would see him eliminated. So would many in the legisla- 
ture who feared his veto when there was legislation to be 
sold. 

The governor was not smooth. In his efforts to produce 
a state government respected and forceful he went too far 
for his own good. He soon offended not only the mass of 
native whites, who were prejudiced against him because 
he was a Republican and a Northern man, but also a por- 
tion of his own party. His request of the legislature for a 
law authorizing him to employ secret police,^ his issue of a 
circular calling for an enumeration of outrages suffered by 
Republicans, and his purchase of fire-arms in the North for 
the arming of the state militia — partly black — offended the 
native whites. They professed to see in these measures a 
dangerous and offensive design to spy on them, and to en- 
force tyrannically the will of Republican politicians by the 
barbarous means of a negro militia. There was plaus- 
ibility in this point of view. 

On the other hand, the governor offended the Republi- 
can legislature by his efforts to conduct the state govern- 
ment in what he considered an honest manner and in accord 
with sound principles of public finance. In face of unpopu- 

' See Reed's estimate of the part Osborn played; — Floridian, Dec. 
15, 1868. 

^ Lazvs of Florida, 15 Assembly, ist Sess., Chapt. 1660. See Com- 
ment in A^. Y. Herald, Aug. 5, 1868. 



CONFLICT AMONG RADICALS 545 

larity with those politicians who wished to hold two or 
more offices at once, Reed declared vacant the seats in the 
legislature occupied by men who had subsequently accepted 
state or county office/ This action was open to question 
from the standpoint of constitutional law. Nothing in the 
constitution directly bestowed on the chief executive this 
sweeping power of removal. 

Other incidents soon demonstrated the breach between 
executive and legislature. A bill for the incorporation of 
the " Florida Savings Bank " was vetoed by Reed because 
he considered it part of a dishonest scheme of New York 
" money sharks ".^ Another bill came to him giving ne- 
groes all the privileges of whites on railway trains. He 
vetoed it.^ A third bill was hurried through granting 
judges their salaries per diem instead of by the year. The 
governor vetoed it.^ Finally a bill was passed calling on 
the comptroller to pay the legislators their salaries at once 
in state scrip. Reed vetoed it, claiming that there was then 
no money in the treasury to pay salaries and that it was 
neither expedient nor wise to issue scrip. August the 6th, 
the bill was passed over his veto.^ The chambers promptly 
adjourned. The war between governor and legislature had 
fairly begun. 

■ Proclamation of Reed ; — Floridian, Nov. 3, 1868. There were 14 
vacancies according to the governor's view — 9 in the senate and 5 in 
the house. 

^ Wallace, op. cit., p. 83. Wallace states that " the bill was tele- 
graphed from New York by L. D. Stickney, one of Sec. Chase's Direct 
Tax Commissioners for Florida. A check for $500 was sent to Knight 
(o secure its passage." 

* Floridian, Aug. 11, 1868. A^. Y. Herald, Aug. 4, 1868, letter from 
Tallahassee. 

* Floridian, Aug. 11, 1868. 

^ Laws of Florida, 15th Assembly, ist Sess., Chapt. 1683; A''. Y. 
Herald, Aug. 8, 1868. 



546 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

A few weeks later Reed went North. Among his objects 
was the purchase of arms for the state militia.^ During his 
absence politics went against him. Lieutenant-governor 
Gleason and the other confederates of Senator Osborn were 
determined to get rid of Reed by impeachment. He ham- 
pered the legislature and had offended both Gleason and 
Osborn personally by his refusal to aid them in certain 
financial undertakings which smacked of outrageous graft. 
During the July-August session of the legislature, provi- 
sion had been made for the issue of $300,000 in bonds.' 
The governor had control of the emission of these bonds. 
Gleason wished to earn money out of this transaction. His 
plan was to buy the bonds with scrip which he could pur- 
chase at 30 to 50 cents on the dollar and then to sell these 
bonds in the North for 70 cents. He claimed that arrange- 
ments were completed in Washington for the disposal of 
the bonds at this figure. The estimated profits would be 
from $80,000 to $100,000, which Gleason was willing to 
divide with Reed. The governor refused to sell him the 
bonds.^ 

In regard to the personal difference with Osborn, Gov- 
ernor Reed was asked by that individual " to influence the 
surveyor-general so that " a large tract of timber land in 
West Florida " might be sold at a nominal price to Sen- 
ator Osborn." Reed refused to act* 

When the legislature assembled on November 3rd, 1868, 
Reed was on strained terms with the lieutenant-governor, 

^ Floridian, Sept. 15; Dec. 15, 1868. 

* Laws of Florida, iSth Assembly, ist Sess., Chapt. 1634 — passed Aug. 
6, Aug. 8, 1868. 

» Floridian, Dec. 15, 1868. N. Y. World, Dec. 22, 1868. Gov. Reed 
discussed the details of this transaction in public speeches delivered 
in Jacksonville and Tallahassee. 

* Floridian, Sept. 15, Dec. 15, 1868; A''. Y. World, Dec. 22, 1868. 



CONFLICT AMONG RADICALS 547 

with Senator Osborn and with many of the legislators. 
The chambers, sitting to choose presidential electors, called 
upon the governor to convene them in special session in 
order that money might be appropriated by law for extra 
pay. The governor was informed by friends that the 
legislature intended not only to pass a money bill, but also 
to impeach him/ Wishing to force the question to an im- 
mediate issue he convoked the legislature.^ 

The money bill came to him. He promptly sent it back, 
November 6th, with his veto.^ The legislators had re- 
ceived their salaries and nothing in the constitution or in 
the unwritten law of ordinary probity justified such demand 
on their part for extra pay. The bill was passed over the 
veto.* 

At the beginning of the afternoon session of the house, 
Horatio Jenkins, Jr., a member of the senate, presented 
charges, as " a private citizen ", against Governor Reed. 
He accused him of " falsehood and lying " in transacting 
business with the legislature; of "incompetency" in ap- 
pointing state and county officials ; of lawlessness in declar- 
ing seats in the legislature vacant; of "embezzling" state 
securities ; of corruption in the disposal of state offices. For 
these " high crimes and misdemeanors " Jenkins demanded 
the impeachment of the governor at the hands of the 
house.'* J. W. Butler, of Santa Rosa County, West Flor- 

* Floridian, Dec. 15, 1868. 

' Governor's Proclamation, An. Cyclop, 1868-9. See preamble. 
' Floridian, Nov. 10, 1868. An. Cyclo., 1868-9. See Reed's veto 
message. 

* Ibid. 

* Ibid Reed claimed that the charges presented against him by 
Jenkins were fabricated by Osborn. Wallace, op. cit., pp. 88-89. 



548 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

ida, moved that Reed be impeached, and the house promptly 
voted in the affirmative, twenty-five to six.' 

It is vi^orthy of notice that the man w^ho made these 
charges, Jenkins, and the man who moved their acceptance 
by the house, Butler, both had accepted office by appoint- 
ment from Governor Reed and both were in danger there- 
fore of losing their places in the legislature by the action 
of the governor in declaring these places vacant. Also, of 
the twelve senators who sat waiting to receive the accusa- 
tions of the house, three besides Jenkins were in the same 
predicament.^ A house committee was promptly appointed 
to go before the senate to impeach Reed; and another, to 
prepare definite articles of impeachment with power to ex- 
amine witnesses and take evidence. 

The dramatic contest between President Johnson and 
Congress, which had occurred but a few months before, 
served as an example for these commonwealth impeachers. 
The house committee proceeded into the senate chamber 
and there formally impeached the governor. The upper 
house took under consideration the question of the trial. 
On the following day, November 7th, both houses ad- 
journed until the first Tuesday after the first Monday in 
January, 1869, when the process of ousting the governor 
would proceed.^ 

Reed, in the meantime, was little inclined to be passive 
or compromising. The last two charges made by Jenkins 
were grave and concrete enough to put the governor 
in the state penitentiary if they could be substantiated with 

» An. Cyclo, 1868-9; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 7, 1868; N. Y. Times, Nov. 
9, 1868. 

' Floridian, Nov. 3, 10. Dec. i, 1868. The senators were Alden, 
Jenkins, Meacham (negro) and Mobley. The first two were carpet- 
baggers. The last was a scalawag. 

» An. Cyclo., 1868-9. 



CONFLICT AMONG RADICALS 549 

reasonably good proof. As a matter of fact no good evi- 
dence was ever forthcoming substantiating any of the 
charges. The state accounts up to that time did not yield 
proof of executive embezzlement. If Reed traded in local 
offices he kept the proof of such transactions profoundly to 
himself. If the appointees were bad or incompetent, the 
senate was equally guilty with the governor. It had ratified 
his choice. 

Seated in his office at the capitol building Reed stroked 
his bushy beard and looked out of the window. Wisconsin, 
his old home, would have been a better place for him. In 
the yellow glow of the afternoon sun the live oaks were 
casting their shadows far across the square. He probably 
balanced well in his thoughts the factors in the delicate 
situation. How much he knew, we know not. He himself 
was doubtful of what he thought he knew. In Florida he 
was an " outsider " and by the Southern whites would 
never be judged from any other standpoint. Most of his 
cabinet would be loyal to him — Carse, the adjutant-general, 
Robert Gamble, the aristocratic comptroller, and the others 
maybe, except the secretary of state, Alden, from Massa- 
chusetts.^ He had reason to distrust Alden by this time. 
That gentleman had been elected to the state senate. Ac- 
cording to Reed's proclamation his seat there was vacant 
because he held another office, secretary of state; yet Alden 
hung to his position in the legislature and was thick with 
Gleason, the lieutenant-governor. The legislature had been 
called in special session for a particular object defined in the 
executive proclamation assembling it. Could that body 

^ Alden was an ex-officer of the Fed. Army who after the War be- 
came an express agent in Pensacola. See N. Y. World, Sept. 17, 1868 
— letter from Tallahassee; Floridian, Nov. 3, 1868; H. Rpts., 39th C, 
1st S., no. 30, pt. 4, p. 3. 



ceo RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

lawfully impeach while assembled to pass a money bill ? ^ 
Who were against the governor ? Reed knew that the ma- 
jority of his own party were as uncertain in their public 
principles as the autumn wind that blew gently through the 
live oaks outside. The Democrats in the legislature would 
try to convict a Republican governor for the sake of party 
politics and because he was a meddlesome " Yankee ". 

News came to Reed on that afternoon that Gleason had 
issued a proclamation declaring him suspended from office 
pending his impeachment trial, and stating that Gleason 
was lawful governor of Florida.^ The proclamation bore 
the imprint of the " Great Seal of the State ". The secre- 
tary of state's office was vacant. Alden had deserted his 
chief and taken the seal with him.^ Were there now two 
governors of Florida? 

Reed had a strong helper in his adjutant-general, Carse. 
Carse swore out a warrant before Circuit Judge Cocke af- 
firming that Gleason and Alden had " conspired " to inter- 
fere forcibly with the government of Florida.* The judge 

1 The Constitution, Art. 6, Sec. 8 stated : " The Governor may on 
extraordinary occasions convene the Legislature by proclamation, and 
shall state to both houses, when organized, the purpose for which they 
have been convened, and the legislature shall transact no legislative 
business except that for which they are specially convened or such 
other legislative business as the Governor may call to the attention of 
the legislature while in session, except by the unanimous consent of 
both houses." H. Misc. Docs., 40th C., 2nd S., no. 114, pp. 11-31. 

* Floridian, Nov. 10, 1868; An. Cyclo., 1868-9. 

» N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 8, 1868, letter from Tallahassee : " Gov. Reed 
sent North for a duplicate seal. It came and was exactly like the 
original except the figure of an Indian which should have been a 
female was a male." 

* See Laws of Florida, 15th Assembly, ist Sess., Chapt. 1637, Sec. 
5 — " If two or more persons form a combination to usurp the Gov- 
ernment of the State by force they shall be imprisoned on conviction 
for a period not exceeding 10 years or less than one year." 



CONFLICT AMONG RADICALS 551 

issued a warrant for their arrest, and the sheriff of the 
county, loyal to Reed who had appointed him, brought 
Gleason and Alden before the judge. He bound them over 
to appear before him on Friday. They were allowed to 
go at liberty without bond.^ 

Reed was determined to get rid of Alden. He requested 
his resignation, but the secretary refused to resign.' The 
governor searched about and trumped up a charge of em- 
bezzlement against Alden, which was about as flimsy as 
those charges brought by the impeachers against himself.^ 
He thereupon declared the office of secretary of state vacant 
and appointed a negro, Johnathan Gibbs, to fill the vacancy. 
This was a politic move on Reed's part. He had created 
some hostility among the blacks by his veto of the negro- 
equality railway bill. The appointment won for him some 
applause from the negro members of the legislature and 
the negro populace.* 

Adjutant-General Carse and the county sheriff raised a 
volunteer picket guard and picketed the capitol building 
day and night to prevent forcible entry by the Gleason 
party. ^ For more than six weeks this citizen picket line 
was continued — a critical and disgraceful condition cer- 
tainly for a government in time of peace.* 

Gleason, finding it impossible to gain possession of the 
regular executive offices, took his seat as governor of 
Florida at the principal hotel of the town, surrounded, it 

^ Floridian, Nov. 10, 1868. 
^ Floridian, Nov. 17, 1868. 
^ Floridian, Nov. 24, 1868. 

* Wallace, of. cit., p. 90. 

^ Ibid., p. 442 — Letter of Reed to Wallace, Feb. 9, 1887. 

* During this period Reed continued to act as Governor. See pro- 
clamation, Floridian, Nov. 10, 24, 1868. 



5r2 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

is said, by lobbyists buying future favors.^ From there he 
issued orders and signed proclamations as governor of Flor- 
ida, with Alden acting as his secretary of state.^ 

The Democrats looked on and smiled. Congressional 
reconstruction was not resulting well. Some one depicted 
the situation thus: 

" Mister Alden had managed — He's good on the steal — 
To cunningly carry away the State seal ; 
And Gleason and he — what a prodigious sell — 
Tried to run the machine at McGuffin's Hotel." ^ 

Alden's relations with Reed suggested the episode of 
Secretary Stanton and President Johnson — then fresh in 
people's minds. Alden was represented by a hostile critic 
as saying: 

"I thank my noble hearted friend, his compliments accept; 
The Stanton of this crowd I'll be (and here the trai'or wept) ; 
Napoleon's motto shall be ours — we may not now withdraw — 
Let us march on to victory 'gainst justice, peace, and law."* 

Senator Sumner had laconically told Stanton to " stick " 
when President Johnson was attempting to get rid of him. 
Although the situation in Florida was different in import- 
ant details, there was sufficient similarity to bring out this : 
" Though scripture tells us it is hard to ' kick against the 

^ Floridian for month of Nov., 1868; Att. Cyclo., 1868-9. 

^ See for instance notice of proclamation of Gleason and Alden, 
N. Y. Herald, Nov. 18, 1868, Tallahassee le'ter. Gleason attempted 
to form a regular cabinet ; A'^. Y. Tribune, Dec. 8, 1868, Tallahassee 
letter. Gleason and Alden signed the electoral certificate of Grant 
and Colfax electors from Florida, — Floridian, Dec. 8, 1868. On Nov. 
16 Gleason issued a proclamation declaring a second time that Reed 
was deposed from office, and stating that hr; was under arrest be- 
cause of his impeachment, — An. Cyclo., 1868-9. 

' From " The Impeachment Farce," Floridian, Dec. 8. 1868. 

■• From " The Impeachment Caucus, a Satirical Dramatic Poem ", 
Floridian, Dec. 8, 1868. 



CONFLICT AMONG RADICALS 553 

pricks ', Three cheers for the impeachment game — Once 
more, friend Alden, ' Stick '." ^ 

Unable, or unwilling, to drive Reed from office by votes 
or open force, his enemies attempted to frighten him into 
resigning. " Signal rockets " were sent up near the capitol 
hotel as supposed signals to the surrounding country that 
something unusual was going to happen — mob attack or 
similar dangerous demonstration. Negro loafers, black 
razor-carrying prostitutes, and political " bums " crowded 
the little town's few streets like scavengers. A mob under 
such circumstances was no impossibility. In the dead of 
night guns were discharged near the house of the gover- 
nor. Stories were circulated of the evil that would come 
to pass if Reed persisted in occupying his office. He was 
followed about the streets by a notorious character accused 
of more than one paid assassination. Adjutant-General 
Carse stated that the assassination of Reed was deliberately 
planned by his political enemies within his own party — by 
Republicans — who when the deed had been perpetrated in- 
tended to lay the blame on " Southern Ku Klux "." The 
murder of a Republican governor by disloyal and criminal 
Southerners would be fortunate news for the more blood- 
thirsty agitators among the Radicals in the North. 

Reed doggedly held his ground. He was a stubborn man 
as well as a canny one, and by bringing about the interpo- 
sition of the judiciary he accomplished what President 
Johnson in his contest with Stanton attempted unsuccess- 
fully to do. He managed to shift the quarrel over the gov- 
ernorship to the courts. The new constitution required the 
supreme court to render the governor on his demand a 
written opinion interpreting " any portion of the constitu- 

^ Floridian, Dec. 8. 1868. 

- Reed to Wallace, Feb. 9, 1887, — Wallace, o/'. cit., p. 442. 



554 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



tion " or " any point of law ".^ Reed took advantage of 
this provision." " I feel it my duty to bring before your at- 
tention that I am continuing to act as governor," he stated 
to the court on November 3rd, 

and that said Gleason is also assuming to act as Governor; 
that the officers of the State do not know in this unsettled 
and anomalous condition of things whom to recognize as the 
head of the Executive Department; that the administration of 
the State Government is obstructed, and the peace and safety 
of the whole state jeopardized. It is but natural that I should, 
therefore, under such circumstances seek your counsel and 
opinion at the earliest moment, and you will pardon me for 
urging you, in view of the possible momentous results of these 
issues, to furnish me your opinion at the earliest possible 
moment.^ 

The supreme court rendered an opinion, November 
24th, 1868, fully sustaining Reed — which, in brief, de- 
clared that the governor had not been impeached because 
the senate at the time that the charges were preferred was 
without a quorum.* The senate was composed of twenty- 
four members. Twelve of the twenty-four elected had 
been present,^ who with the lieutenant-governor, as presi- 
dent of the senate, made up a constitutional quorum, thir- 

* Constitution, Art. 5, Sec. 16, — H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 2nd C, no. 
114, pp. 11-31. 

' See comment in N. Y. Herald, Nov. 16, 1868 — Tallahassee letter. 
' Fla. Reports, v. 12, pp. 658-9, Ex. Communication, Nov. 9, 1868. 

* Fla. Reports, v. 12, pp. 661-685, Ex. Communications. Also see 
Floridian, Nov. 17, Dec. i, 1868; A^ Y. Tribune, Dec. 8, 1868. 

* The 12 Senators present were: Alden (Commissioned by Reed 
Sect, of State), Jenkins, (Judge, Alachua Co.), Mobley (State's At- 
torney), Meacham, a negro (Clerk of the Court, Jefferson Co.), Krim.- 
minger, Katzenberg, Morange, Underwood, Smith, Bradwell, and 
Pearce, — Floridian, Nov. 3, Dec. i, 1868. 



CONFLICT AMONG RADICALS 555 

teen. But four of the twelve had accepted state office and 
by proclamation of the governor their seats in the legisla- 
ture were vacant. When Reed had declared vacant the 
places of these legislators he had wrought for his own in- 
terests better than he knew. The supreme court sustained 
him in his removals and his action therefore helped save 
him from impeachment. 

The pronouncement of the supreme court proved to be 
the end of this first effort by fellow Republicans to drive 
out their chief executive. When the legislature assembled 
in January, 1869, it hesitated to combat the judiciary. 

Governor Reed on receiving the opinion of the court be- 
came aggressive. Through his attorney-general he insti- 
tuted quo warranto proceedings in the supreme court on 
November 19th against the lieutenant-governor.^ Gleason 
was called upon to show cause, why he, not having been a 
citizen of Florida for three years before his election, should 
not be ousted from office. The case was duly tried before 
the supreme court and Gleason lost.^ The ouster was issued 
on December I4th,^ and the place of lieutenant-governor 
became temporarily vacant. 

Reed had Vv^on in this initial contest against a faction of 
his own party. " On that occasion," he afterward stated, 
" a conspiracy was formed by Osborn and his military 
satraps and the Richards-Billings faction to depose me by 
violence and take possession of the capitol. This was 

^ Fla. Reports, v. 12, p. 193; Floridian, Nov. 17, 1868; A^. Y. Herald, 
Nov. 17, 1868; An. Cycle, 1868-9; Wallace, op. cit., p. 90. 

^ Fla. Rpts., V. 12, passim. Press record, see A''. Y. Herald, Nov. 20, 
25, 28, 39, Dec. I, 1868; A^ Y. Tribune, Dec. 8, 1868; Floridian, Dec 
8, 15, 1868. Col. H. Bisbee of Jacksonville, an ex-soldier of the 
Fed. Army, and ex-Gov. Walker were the counsel for Gleason. Glearon 
tried to get his case before the Fed. Courts, Floridian, Dec. 22, 1868. 

* Floridian, Dec. 15, 1868. 



556 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

within a few months after my inauguration, in consequence 
of my refusal to obey their dictation to vandalize the 
State "/ This of course was his view of the trouble. 
Wherever the merits in the case might have resided, the 
few Democrats in the legislature divided on the question 
of impeachment. Reed's chief refuge had proven to be the 
state courts. A Southern ex-slave-holding circuit judge. 
William A. Cocke, and a supreme court two-thirds Southern 
in its personnel h^ad sustained him. The justice who ren- 
dered the most pronounced opinion in his favor was a 
Democrat and a Southerner. The men who fought out suc- 
cessfully the case of Reed and the state against Gleason 
were J. P. Sanderson, M. D. Papy, and A. J. Peeler, ex- 
Confederates, Conservatives and Southerners.^ The last 
two had framed Florida's Black Code three years before. 
And "through the intervention" of William D. Bloxham, 
Conservative leader, the notorious Luke Lott, said to have 
been sent by Republicans to Tallahassee to assassinate 
Reed, was persuaded " to abandon it ".^ 

^ Wallace, op. cit., p. 441. 

* Fla. Reports, v. 12, p. 192. 

3 Written Statement of Reed to Wallace, Feb. 9, 1887,— Wallace, 
op. cit., p. 442. 



CHAPTER XXII 
The Outbreak of Lawlessness 

Radical rule was accompanied by bloody lawlessness. 
Physical violence characterized the period. In the South 
old party lines had been almost destroyed by the Civil 
War. A common calamity became the foundation of a 
common political faith for most Southern whites. The 
Reconstruction Acts helped on this unfortunate tendency 
South — they furthered rigid sectionalism. Conservative 
Southerners believed that the local government, the courts, 
and the laws were administered in most cases by people 
hostile to them, and that the powerful Federal government 
stood ready to protect the Radical Southern governments. 
A common consciousness among Southern whites of over- 
powering injustice borne, inevitably led, in every Southern 
state, to a toleration by usually peaceable citizens of vio- 
lence against Radicals — black and white — because such 
violence was considered necessary, if not righteous. 
" Human life is counted cheap when passion or politics call 
for its sacrifice," wrote one carpet-bagger from Florida in 
the midst of trouble, " and the frequency and cold blood 
which have characterized our murders has not been to me 
so fearful a fact as the carelessness with which the public 
learn a new outrage." ^ Out of such a dangerous public 
opinion in the South grew extended secret leagues and so- 
cieties whose object was to combat Radical rule. 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 221-22, — Dickinson to 
Gibbs, Feb. 23, 1871. 



558 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

In other Southern states actual organization among 
Southern whites to oppose real and fancied oppression was 
probably more complete and widespread than in Florida. 
The sinister fame of the " Invisible Empire " — the Ku 
Klux Klan — spread far beyond its actual field of opera- 
tions. Its existence in Florida was openly avowed by men 
who evidently possessed very vague knowledge of the sub- 
ject. The terror which this brotherhood soon excited 
tempted local regulators in this state to employ the three 
K's when serving notices against the proscribed. 

" It was just eight days after the election that I got up 
one morning and found a piece of paper lying inside of my 
gate informing me that if I remained three days longer I 
was in danger," testified a native white Republican, " scal- 
awag ", before the Joint Select Committee of Congress in 
1871. 

" I went to the store and there was a negro man standing 
on the store steps with a gun in his hand. There was a big 
notice on the store that they would give me 24 hours to 
leave. ... It was signed ' K K K ' and made up of little 
words cut out of paper, not in writing." ^ 

The negro secretary of state, Jonathan Gibbs, presented 
to the same committee a report from Taylor County, " that 
a body of men had come into Taylor County with a flag 
with three K's on it; that they had alarmed the people very 
much; had committed acts of violence ".^ 

Emanuel Fortune, a negro shoemaker-politician of Jack- 
son County, affirmed under oath that while he had person- 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd C, no. 22, v. 13, p. 70. Testimony of Cone, a 
scalawag. He claimed to have experienced this in Jan., 1871. He gave 
his testimony in November. 

' Ibid., p. 221. This appearance in Taylor County was in August or 
September, 1871. Gibbs stated that he knew a man who knew the 
ritual of the Klan. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 



559 



ally never seen any " Ku Klux ", yet he believed in their 
existence in Florida. " There is a man." he said, " who 
saw two disguised men eight feet high sitting in the moon- 
light in the place where they finally killed a man ".^ Many 
other negroes gave similar semi-spectral testimony.^ 

L. G. Dennis, the intelligent white Republican boss of 
Alachua County, testified that he had been " threatened 
many times. I have two letters here," he said, " as follows 
— ' K K K. No man e'er felt the halter draw with good 
opinion of the law. K K K. Twice the secret report was 
heard. When again you hear this voice your doom is 
sealed. Dead men tell no tales. K K K . Dead! Dead! 
under the roses. K K K. Our motto is death to Radicals. 
Beware. K K K." ' 

E. G. Johnson, a white Republican of Columbia County, 
presented to the Congressional committee a letter, received 
in the spring of 1871, containing the following statementj: 

It is the united and sworn voice of over 4,000 Floridians to 
preserve their rights or lose their lives in its defense ; and 
what is resolved is not the effect of inconsiderate rashness, 
but the sound result of sober deliberation in brotherhoods and 
the representatives of brotherhoods in council. . . . All the 
Ku Klux laws, all the courts, all the soldiers, all the devils in 
hell cannot stop the resolves of the brotherhoods. The de- 
stroyers of our rights — that is, unprincipled leaders such as 
you, if they persist, will fall one by one; it is sworn to by 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S.. no. 22, v. 13, p. 94. Fortune's impressions 
were received in Jackson County (W. Fla.) in 1868-70. 

- Ibid., p. 54, Sam. Tutson, 1871, Clay Co. ; p. 109, Hy. Reed, Jackson 
Co., iBCB; p. 169, C. H. Pearce, Leon Co.; p. 221. J. C. Gibbs; 
p. 272, Rich. Pooser, Jackson Co., 1868-9; p. 279, Doc. Roundtree, 
Suwanee Co., 1868 ; p. 302, H. Byron, Jackson Co. ; p. 309, L. White, 
Jackson Co. 

' Ibid., pp. 269-271. 



56o 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



brave men who are obliged to act in secrecy from the power 
of circumstances. It is left to you whether you choose death 
or peace. Krimminger had warning, so had Dickinson, so had 
Mahoney; so now have you; and there is not a glimmer of 
hope left for you if you persist in your course of pretending 
to be elected.^ 

Johnson was murdered in the dark as Krimminger, Ma- 
honey and Dickinson had been murdered. 

The seeming impossibility of bringing law-breakers to 
punishment, the frightful stories of weird and awful experi- 
ences which originated from no man knew just where, the 
silent cavalcades of horsemen in strange disguise who went 
abroad over the Black Belt wnth halter and whip at night, 
the bodies of dead men found putrefying in " sinks " and 
ponds, and such threatening notices as the foregoing with 
the symbolic K K K often attached, — induced a speculative 
opinion even among men of moderation and intelligence 
that Florida was under the hand of the great Klan. Repub- 
lican politicians exaggerated reports because they wished 
the Federal government to aid them in combating " the con- 
spiracy ". 

" I don't know what it terms itself," said Republican 
Judge Bryson, " but it is generally termed the Ku Klux." ' 

" How can you state more than mere opinion upon this 
subject?" was asked of W. J. Purman, a Radical Bureau 
agent and politician. " Well," said he, 

I might state it as my opinion, that it is the spring of the year 
because I see the leaves springing from the trees and the 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 261. 

' Ibid., p. 258. The counties of Lafayette, Taylor, Suwanee, Hamil- 
ton, Madison, and Taylor were embraced in the judicial circuit of 
Judge Bryson. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 561 

vegetation springing from the earth. I might give it as my 
opinion based upon facts as they show themselves about me 
that it is the spring of the year. In the same way I give it 
as my opinion that there is such an organization, and I base it 
upon the facts as they show themselves to me. They call them- 
selves Invisible Empire, Ku Klux, or anything else they choose, 
but they are a combination.^ 

Purman had felt the iron hand of the " combination ". 
His neck bore an ugly scar. His final conclusion was sound, 
although his method of demonstrating his mental process 
may have been more picturesque than convincing to the 
committee. Combinations did exist in Florida to combat 
secretly the Radical Republican party. The most powerful 
was the Young Men's Democratic Club. 

This organization, founded in Leon County during the 
summer of 1868, shortly after the first election under the 
new Radical constitution, spread quickly over a large por- 
tion of Central and Southern Florida.^ It seems to have 
been not a centralized, state-wide organization, but rather a 
loose confederation of county clubs, the group in each 
county being a unit complete in itself and independent of 
that in any other county. The use of practically the same 
written constitution for all made these various county 
Democratic clubs alike in essential characteristics.^ 

According to one of these " constitutions " — the parent 
document, evidently — a committee of " Observation and 
Safety " was directed to divide the white voters and dis- 
franchised citizens of the county into sections of fifties, 
which were to be numbered and a chief appointed for each 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 153. 

* Floridian, Sept. 15, 29, 1868. H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, 
V. 13, pp. 156, 159, 160, 227, 228, 23s, 236, 294, 295, 298. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 159-60. 



^62 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

fifty. The chief of each fifty divided it into tens and ap- 
pointed a chief of each ten. The chief of the tens was ex- 
pected to find out the name, place of residence, vocation, 
height, complexion, history, place of registration and politi- 
cal bias of every white and colored voter in his territory. 
This information was reported to the president of the club 
through the chiefs of fifties. Each member of the club 
must swear to " always conceal any proceedings of this 
club improper to be made public " and to " never divulge 
the words or signs of recognition or distress " and ** to 
instantly respond in person and render all assistance to the 
member speaking the word or giving the sign ". 

The duty of leaders was " to mingle with the colored 
voters of their respective territorial limits sufficiently to 
learn their faces, and at the same time to educate them in 
the principles of the Democratic party ". Democratic clubs 
were part of the response from Southern whites to prior 
secret organization among negroes and their confederates 
in Union Leagues and Lincoln Brotherhoods — those so- 
cieties which under the tutelage of the Freedmen's Bureau 
and the Federal military taught the principles of the Repub- 
lican party. ^ 

Concerning the origin of the clubs, Judge Douglas stated 
that the 

first object was to have some one that we [Democrats] could 
rely upon to watch and see that frauds were no longer com- 
mitted upon the ballot-box. . . . Afterwards there was great 
discontent among the colored people. . . . They were very un- 
quiet and used to go to Tallahassee in crowds of i,ooo at a 
time, armed with guns and clubs and other weapons, and 

1//. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 157-8. Text of con- 
stitution of Leon County organization presented by Mr. Meyers, a 
prominent Conservative. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 563 

parade the streets. I never believed there was any real danger, 
but the female portion of our community were very much 
afraid and a great many of our people believed that there 
would be a collision between the two races. The club was con- 
tinued, and one of the objects was, if a collision did take place, 
they might be able, through the organization, to arrest it ; . . . 
or if that could not be done, it was our duty, as we supposed, 
to be in a condition to defend our homes and firesides against 
any assault.^ 

" I know of nothing like the Ku Klux Klan in this part 
of Florida " (west), stated a gentleman of Pensacola who 
took an active part as a Democrat in local Reconstruction 
politics. 

A number of us men here in Pensacola, feeling that we were 
living over a volcano that was likely to explode at any time, 
formed an organization for protection in case anything hap- 
pened. We formed it in this way. A few of us had a talk, 
and passed word around to those who we thought would ap- 
prove the idea to meet on a certain night quietly — the object 
being in no way to attract attention. Some twenty-five or 
thirty of us met, and one, acting as the spokesman, outlined 
the purpose of our coming together. He said that it was to 
form some sort of organization in case of trouble with the 
negroes. We elected officers and took an inventory of the 
firearms of the members. Fortunately, there was never any 
use for this organization.^ 

All evidence seems to indicate that Democratic clubs, 
" Ku Klux " bands, or local regulators sprang into exist- 
ence almost simultaneously as means of defense or protec- 
tion. Local initiative produced local regulators. If the 

^ H. Rpts.. 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 294; see also testimony of 
Mr. J. J. Williams, p. 227. 

~ Interview of author with Mr. W. E. Anderson of Pensacola, Flor- 
ida, July 29, 1907. Mr. Anderson was mayor of Pensacola at the be- 
ginning of Radical Reconstruction. 



564 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

agents of the " Invisible Empire " ever visited Florida it 
was probably after Conservative whites had formed local 
bands to coerce Radicals and protect white families. 

Did Democratic clubs perpetrate whippings and assassi- 
nations ? It would be very difficult to-day to prove that 
they did. It is worthy of notice, however, that within each 
club was a " secret service committee "/ which was charged 
by its enemies with performing the special and violent func- 
tion of " regulating ". We know that in a half-dozen coun- 
ties of Florida the operations of Conservative " regula- 
tors " were at times persistent and terrifying. The scant 
surviving record of violent Reconstruction lawlessness is 
indicative of a bloody regime. 

During the years 1866 and 1867 the number of threats, 
midnight whippings, and murders in various parts of Flor- 
ida constituted an inevitable part of the aftermath of civil 
conflict and political revolution. The year 1868 witnessed 
the beginning of that systematic and organized lawlessness 
which characterizes the Reconstruction period. So serious 
did social disorders appear that soon after the inaugura- 
tion of the Republican government, Republicans themselves 
declared that the new local civil authorities could not main- 
tain themselves without Federal aid. The Radicals realized 
that much of their prestige and strength lay in Federal bay- 
onets. If the change from military to civil rule meant the 
retirement of the military from the task of actual govern- 
ment, it meant the decline of Republican strength. 

In July, 1868, the legislature, by joint resolution, peti- 
tioned the President to " order the commanding officers of 
the United States to render such aid and assistance to pre- 
serve order and maintain law, as the governor of the state 

* Constitution, Sec. 7; H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 157, 
See also pp. 160-161. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 565 

may from time to time require ".' Radical Governor Reed, 
in transmitting this resolution to President Johnson, stated 
that "it is deemed expedient and essential to peace and se- 
curity, that the present military force be retained for the 
present and subject to the call of the Executive ". Reed 
would use the military only " in cases where civil power 
was resisted and found inadequate to execute the laws ".^ 

Johnson referred the matter to Secretary of War Scho- 
field, who responded the next day that the troops " in Flor- 
ida and those in neighboring states are thought adequate to 
suppress any insurrection "/ The Federal military was 
held in readiness to combat that lawlessness which the Re- 
publican legislature would exaggerate into the character of 
" insurrection ". 

By the autumn of 1868, the sentiment in Jackson County 
was fit for the development of bloody tragedy. The course 
followed by officials of the Freedmen's Bureau and the Fed- 
eral military in garrison there, had produced profound dis- 
satisfaction among the whites. The relations of white em- 
ployers and negro laborers had been rudely interfered with 
by Federal officials ; * white men had been incarcerated by 
Federal troops because they protested against these acts ; ^ 
and in the elections, the blacks, under the leadership mainly 
of white men lately from the North, had insolently launched 
themselves politically against their former masters. They 

' Johnson Papers, — Joint Resolution, July 9, 1868. 
'^ Ibid., Reed to Johnson, July 13, 1868. 

* Ibid., Schofield to Johnson, July 23, 1868. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 281-2. Floridian, April 
27, 1869. An open letter in the Floridian states that Purman, Radical 
politician, had made enemies among both Southerners and North- 
erners. He was charged with "collecting dues to discharged U. S. 
soldiers, who believed that he had been guilty of defrauding them 
out of large amounts." This charge was unsubstantiated with evidence. 

' Wallace, Carpetbag Rule, p. 108; Marianna Courier, Aug. 18, 1870. 



^66 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

— the blacks — had been victorious at the polls. What was 
true of the relations of black and white in Jackson County, 
was true in many other localities in Florida. 

One afternoon in the early autumn of this year, a white 
farmer of Jackson County, McGriff — a Conservative — was 
standing on his back gallery. It was near nightfall. The 
sun had sunk almost below the horizon. The tall trees 
which surrounded his house had cast deep shadows indefi- 
nitely eastward. Someone in the shadows beyond the fence 
fired on McGriff and badly wounded him. He had been 
recently in a dispute with a negro laborer, who had taken 
the case to the Freedmen's Bureau agent without reaching 
a settlement of the difficulty. Induced perhaps by fear, 
McGriff, as soon as his condition allowed, left the county. 
He sent back a young man, McDaniel, to take charge of his 
place. McDaniel, late at night, heard someone calling him. 
He evidently groped his way to the door and was there 
murdered.^ These outrages were credited to negroes. 
They are mentioned because they mark the beginning of a 
period of assassination and unprecedented terror for the 
usually peaceful community of Marianna and environs. 

The operation of white regulators in Jackson County and 
elsewhere in West and Central Florida, now began to as- 
sume a more severe character. Parties of young white men 
— some of them of the local aristocracy — constituted these 
illegal and marauding rural police. Any form of organiza- 
tion in such bands was very rudimentary, except perhaps 
when the regulators were a committee of a Democratic 
club.^ " Before the War, years ago, we had a very similar 
process," said one Southern planter of Leon County. " We 
had down in this country what we called Regulators. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 109. 

* I conclude this after discussing the matter with one of the most 
active regulators of Jackson County. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 567 

Whenever they notified a man to leave, he left. If it had 
not been for this organization with men at the head of it 
we could not have been protected "/ 

With guns across their saddle bows and halters around 
their pummels, Reconstruction regulators, sometimes grotes- 
quely masked, followed the lonely country roads and plan- 
tation by-paths during the night, watching the movements 
of negroes, apprehending thieves, administering warnings 
and whippings, and sometimes taking criminal negroes off 
into the woods for the ghastly purpose of making-way with 
them.^ Their operations affected not only negroes but 
white Republicans as well. The state government some- 
times directly encountered their opposition. The destruc- 
tion on the night of November 6th, 1868, of 2,000 rifles 
purchased by Governor Reed for the militia was in all prob- 
ability the work of regulators. The arms were thrown 
from railway cars and broken up at night between Lake 
City and Madison while en route to Tallahassee.^ They 
were destined for negro militia. 

The regulators of Jackson County were comparatively 
few in number but particularly active. They deliberately 
determined to get rid of the local political leaders of the 
negroes. These leaders were Radicals — white men — lately 
from the North. The most prominent was W. J. Purman, 
of Marianna, state senator and one-time agent of the Freed- 
men's Bureau.* The assassination of Purman was planned 
deliberately and carefully even down to minor details. 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 230. 

" From the Ku Klux testimony and conversation with those who 
took part in regulating. 

^ Floridian, Nov. 10, 1868. N. Y. Times, Nov. 7, 1868; Jan. i, 1869. 
H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 122, 124, 167. 

* Ibid., p. 149. Purman had come into Florida in 1866. For two 
years he was Freedmen's Bureau agent, then a member of the con- 
stitutional convention, and next state senator. 



^68 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

On Friday evening, February 27th, 1869, Purman was 
on his way home from a concert. With him was Dr. Fin- 
layson, the scalawag county clerk. Sometime before mid- 
night the two men, engaged in conversation, were crossing 
the town square. A shot was fired by a man hidden in the 
darkness behind a log. He had been placed there and had 
been waiting for some time. Finlayson was instantly killed 
by the shot. Purman was dangerously wounded. The ball 
that pierced Finlayson's brain went through Purman's neck. 
The wrong man had fallen a victim.^ Covered with blood 
from apparently a death-wound Purman was carried to his 
home. The little town was soon in a tremor. Scores of 
negroes collected about the homes of Purman and the mur- 
dered Finlayson. " The next night about ten o'clock," tes- 
tified Purman three years later, 

when I was lying at the point of death, a committee of a dozen, 
or perhaps more, black men came into my house. They were 
armed to the teeth, and said that there were six or eight hun- 
dred armed men around the town, and that they were going 
to come in and sack the town that night on account of the mur- 
der of their friends. ... I begged of those men, for God's 
sake, not to do any such thing, . . . and made them hold up 
their right hands and swear to me to go and call off their 
friends and return home. Had I not done it there would have 
been a terrible calamity right at that time.- 

The night passed quietly. But no one was punished for 
the killing of Dr. Finlayson, and the midnight excursions 
of regulators continued.^ Within a week a white farmer 

^ Floridian, March 2, 9, April 27, 1869. H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., 
no. 22, V. 13, pp. 78, 94, III, 144, 147, 188, 217, 303. There is some 
confusion as to the date of the incident. One report gives it Feb. 26, 
another Feb. 27. 

» Ibid., p. 155. 

' Floridian, March 9, 1869. The governor by proclamation offered 
a reward of $2,000.00 for the apprehension and conviction of the 
slayer of Finlayson. 



" THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 569 

near Marianna was murdered in his home by blacks/ Times 
were certainly not normal for this community. The bloated 
bodies of negroes were found floating on the placid Chipola." 
Wild stories took strange, weird shape, distorted and en- 
larged by African imaginations and that painful uneasi- 
ness which must have filled the minds of the few white 
Republicans in the county. " Sat up late ; saw somebody 
at my windows about 12 M ", recorded one man after- 
wards brutally assassinated at night.^ The Conservative 
white knew not what would be the next retaliatory move 
by his black neighbors, maybe his one-time slaves. 

Other localities in the state began to experience like vio- 
lent results of the political and racial conflict. During the 
autumn of 1868 negroes were killed in Alachua, Madison, 
and Columbia Counties. Scant record is left of circum- 
stances or of even the names of the dead. They were cred- 
ited with being Radicals. In reviewing to-day the case of 
Reconstruction violence it is possible only to point out 
special cases as specimens. Thomas Jacobs, negro of Co- 
lumbia County, for instance, was called to his door at night 
and shot dead.* A few weeks later a crowd of blacks, as- 
sembled at night for a " social party ", at the house of a 
locally-prominent negro politician, was fired on by a band 
of disguised men. A child was killed and three other 
negroes wounded.^ Weaver, the negro host on this occa- 
sion, had been " holding political meetings " in this house 
and had been told by whites to discontinue the practice. 

' Floridian, March 9, April 27, 1869. 

^ The Chipola is a beautiful stream flowing through Jackson County. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 81, Diary of Dickinson. 
For general conditions, see also Floridian, April 27, 1869, letter from 
Jackson Countj^ 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 263. 

* Ibid., p. 263. 



570 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

He persisted in his course and this tragedy resulted. In 
Alachua County, during the autumn and winter of 1868, 
several spectacular or notorious assassinations and lynchings 
occurred. Samuel Sullivan was killed by a mob at New- 
mansville; Moses Smith, at Gordon; and Henry Franklin, 
at Gainesville. All were negroes.^ In the autumn of the 
following year, 1869, over the state generally affairs grew 
sensibly worse. The gravest trouble was again in Jackson 
County. 

An incident occurred in Marianna (Jackson County) in 
May, 1869, which because of its peculiar and somewhat 
spectacular character, probably did much to heighten the 
animosity of the whites toward the negroes and the Freed- 
men's Bureau. It seems that some negroes reported to 
Bureau headquarters that two young white women — girls 
of refinement and elevated social position — had taken flow- 
ers from the graves of Union soldiers buried in the town. 
The flowers had been placed on the graves by negroes dur- 
ing their May-Day festival. Captain Hamilton, local 
Bureau agent in Marianna, peremptorily summoned these 
young women to appear before him and publicly answer to 
the strange charge of " desecrating the graves " of Union 
soldiers. The girls came into the Bureau court. They were 
accompanied by relatives and friends. The captain ordered 
them to lift the veils which they wore. They did so, and 
he then, in the presence of grinning negroes, administered 
what he termed " a lecture " on what their conduct must be 
in the future if they would avoid arrest.^ Such a proceed- 
ing as this, coupled with the increasing activity of Demo- 
cratic regulators, boded ill for peace. 

The constable in Marianna at this time was a negro, 

1 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 268. 
=»/&id., pp. 232, 282, 285. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 571 

Calvin Rogers ^ — aggressive, sharp and influential in local 
politics among his people. His electors and his deputies 
were black. He was feared and hated by many a Southern 
white. The assassination of Rogers was planned by the 
same men who attempted the life of Purman. Such killing 
then had to be managed with considerable circumspection 
because the Bureau agent could and would call in Federal 
troops to apprehend any who seriously imposed upon the 
freedmen. The courts were mostly Radical and the juries 
could be made black if necessary. 

On Tuesday, September 28th (1869), a number of ne- 
groes were on their way to a picnic at Robinson's Spring, 
near Marianna. Calvin Rogers was of the party. He was 
seated in an ox-cart. As the picnickers approached a 
thicket, they were fired upon from ambush. A negro man 
and a little boy were killed outright. Rogers escaped.' 
Within two hours a posse of thirty armed blacks, with a 
white Republican justice of the peace at its head, was scour- 
ing the country for the assassins.^ 

The following day, about dark, two negroes were fired 
on and badly wounded near Marianna.* Two days later, 
October ist, shortly after nightfall a more serious trouble 
befell the town. 

A few minutes before nine o'clock two gentlemen and a 
lady were seated on the front piazza of the town hotel en- 

1 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 148, 192. The only elec- 
tive local office was " constable " — one for every 200 registered voters 
in a county — each county to have at least two and not more than 12. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22. v. 13, pp. 78, 145, 289 (Letter 
of J. Q. Dickinson written two days later), — "Thirteen or fourteen 
shots in rapid succession. Rogers had but one load which he fired." 
Wallace, op. cit., p. no. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 290. 

* Ibid., p. 78. 



r72 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

gaged in conversation. One was Colonel James McClellan, 
a veteran of the Confederate Army, a cultured man, a good 
law^yer, and a Conservative politician of some influence. 
The worst his enemies could say of him was that he had 
" rugged, harsh ways " and " was a large man, a man of 
huge proportions, and called himself a ' Kentucky war- 
horse ' "^ The other man was Colonel J. P. Coker, a local 
planter-merchant, younger and more aggressive than the 
other and termed by Radicals " the generalissimo of the Ku 
Klux ". The lady with them was Miss Maggie McClellan, 
a most amiable and lovable young woman, the daughter of 
Colonel McClellan. Coker was deeply hated by the Repub- 
lican politicians of West Florida. His assassination was 
commonly believed afterwards to have been planned by 
Radical whites and negroes, probably in retaliation for the 
killing of Finlayson and the wounding of Purman. Calvin 
Rogers, negro constable at Marianna, was reputed to have 
been a leader in the plot to get rid of Coker. 

On this particular evening a kerosene lamp in a window 
threw a broad beam of light across the darkened street in 
front of the hotel. A band of negroes sauntered down the 
street and across the beam of light. The night was calm, 
for the strumming of a banjo came up faintly from the dis- 
tant negro quarters. Colonel McClellan and his daughter, 
seated now alone in the peaceful, cool darkness of the 
piazza might have noticed the passing negroes, for others 
across the street did. The negro constable Rogers was seen 
in this group of blacks that passed on into the shadows. 
Coker had left the McClellans a few minutes before. The 
Colonel turned to say something to his daughter. A click 
of gunlocks and a whisper came from out the darkness 
down the street. Instantly a volley followed, directed 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 150. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 573 

toward the piazza. McClellan, struck in the upper part of 
the body and bleeding profusely started up and then gripped 
the banisters to keep his feet. Miss McClellan was killed.^ 

As the reports of the guns echoed through the town, 
men jumped for their arms. Lights were put out and 
blinds were closed. Men and women stood, with strain- 
ing ears, listening for the dreadful sounds which their 
wrought-up imaginations suggested. The assassins of Miss 
McClellan ran down the street and then into a lane, and 
were soon safe in the negro quarters or the open country. 
This was indeed retaliation by black Radicals. The racial 
and political conflict in Florida had claimed as its victims 
several persons only remotely responsible for trouble, and 
now " an innocent, inoffensive, and passingly lovely lady," ■ 
had been stricken down by a volley from the darkness. 
Was this to be the first move in assaulting the homes of the 
whites? Race war had been talked about enough since 
1866, to make some people believe that it might occur. In 
the plantation counties the blacks far outnumbered the 
whites — and the blacks were armed and organized. The 
white men of Jackson County then had reason to believe 
that murder, rape and rapine would engulf the whites if the 
semi-barbarous race obtained the upper hand in actual 
physical conflict. 

" That night," said Joseph Barnes, a young Conservative 
regulator, " I rode almost to the Choctawhatchee " (more 
than forty miles away). In other directions mounted white 
men went out through the night to arouse and warn white 
families. Before daylight the country people began to ar- 
rive in Marianna. Most of the men were on horseback with 
guns across their saddle bows. Their women and children 

' H. Rpts.. 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 78, 150, 188, 207, 290, 309. 
2 Ibid., p. 283 — from Marianna Courier. 



574 RECONSTPUCTION IN FLORIDA 

came with them. Just a generation before, the fathers and 
grandfathers of some of these people had gathered together 
thus to protect themselves and their families against the 
Seminole Indians. " People kept gathering in from all 
parts of the country, armed mostly with double-barreled 
shotguns, and most of them mounted," wrote a white Re- 
publican in Marianna.^ No inquest was allowed over the 
body of Miss McClellan.^ The younger and more violent 
white men were bent on immediate revenge for this " damn- 
able atrocity ",^ which, following the cruel, cold logic of 
events, their own violence had played no small part in pro- 
ducing. 

J. Q. Dickinson, the white Republican justice of the 
peace in Marianna, sat gazing next morning out of his win- 
dow at the people moving up and down the main street of 
the town. He had reason to be uneasy. He was witnessing 
the rapid local disintegration of constituted authority. 
This was a frequent and sinister phenomenon of the Re- 
construction period. Rumor had fixed the guilt for the 
previous night's murder, and Dickinson had offered to 
issue a warrant for the arrest of the suspects, but no one 
seemed to want a warrant. The man to serve it was the 
negro constable, and he was suspected of the crime. The 
justice noticed the crowd move hurriedly toward the town 
square, and, leaving his office, he passed into the street 
among the excited people. He claimed that he heard Col- 
onel Coker call out: " Come on, I'd soon lose my life now 
as any time ". Some one else yelled out : " Come on, boys." 
"They are trying to kill Calvin" (the negro constable), 
Dickinson was told by several people as he made his way into 
the crowd.* Stepping up to a group in which was Colonel 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 290. ^ Ibid., p. 79. 

' Marianna Courier. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 79. The negro, Calvin 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 



575 



Coker, the justice of the peace said: "What is the row? 
I hope you will not be too hasty but will get out a war- 
rant." Coker turned on him. " What right have you, sir, 
to say that? " he demanded of Dickinson. " We don't care 
a damn for what you think or what you say." Such a 
statement embodies in brief compass the ugly spirit roused 
by negro rule — and such a spirit worked for confusion and 
injustice. A crowd of white men with guns over their 
arms gathered about the Republican justice of the peace.^ 
He had lost the authority which the law might confer. " I 
found everything in wild excitement. The young men were 
drunk and desperate," Dickinson jotted down in memor- 
anda which survived his tragic death, " and the elder and 
better men were afraid and kept mostly out of sight ". 

During the morning Oscar Granbury and Matt Nickels, 
negroes, suspected of being implicated in the murder of 
Miss McClellan, were taken a short distance out of town 
by a group of armed whites. Granbury was killed. Nickels 
escaped to the woods.^ " There was much danger of a riot 
before noon," recorded Dickinson. 

For the next week the tension in and about Marianna 
continued amid murders and attempts at murder. The offi- 
cers of the law were helpless. No law was operative be- 
yond that of the mob. The sheriff of the county was a 
fugitive from justice, accused of murder and reported to 
be at the head of a band of desperate negroes. The elder 
men among the whites, seeking peace, were exerting them- 

Rogers, was at the time only suspected of being implicated in the 
McClellan murder. He appeared in Marianna the morning after the 
killing and was directed by Dickinson, justice of the peace, to serve 
an inquest over the body of Miss McClellan. He soon after this 
left Marianna. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 79. Diary of Dickinson. 

* Ibid., p. 79. 



276 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

selves to control the younger men. On Monday, October 
3rd, they attempted to bring about a friendly conference 
between blacks and whites, but their efforts proved futile, 
because no one came to their conference/ On this same 
day Samuel Fleishman, a Jewish merchant, was called be- 
fore a committee of citizens and told that he must leave the 
country because he had expressed opinions derogatory to 
" white supremacy ". Fleishman had been for twenty 
years a citizen of Jackson County. " They gave me two 
hours to arrange my affairs and get out of the town," he 
said. " I told them that if I had committed a crime I was 
willing to be tried and punished for it, . . . but that I 
would rather die than leave. They informed me that they 
would take me off at sundown, willing or unwilling." ' 

At sundown he was taken by a band of armed white men, 
carried out of the county, and told that if he should ever 
return he would be killed.^ A week later the body of 
Fleishman was found in the public road twenty miles from 
Marianna. The corpse was stiff and cold and bloody from 
a gunshot wound. The man had met his death while re- 
turning home on foot. He had disregarded the warning of 
those who had expelled him. He told Malachi Martin, 
the prison warden at Chattahoochee who tried to turn him 
back from his fatal journey, that " all he had in the world 
was in Marianna, ... his family and all his interests." * 

In Marianna, meanwhile, the whites were dealing dras- 
tically with suspected negroes. On Thursday, October 
4th, the white men met in mass-meeting. The older and 
more conservative men pleaded for peace. Their advice 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 80. 
' Ibid., p. 82, affidavit of Fleishman, Oct. 5, 1869. 
' Ibid., p. 291. 
* Ibid., pp. 78, 81, 145, 189, 217. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 5^7 

was flung back in their faces by the younger men. After 
the meeting, Matt Nickels, his wife and son — suspected of 
being implicated in the McClellan murder — were all three 
taken a short distance out of town, shot to death, and their 
bodies thrown into an old lime-sink/ At night came on 
word spread about that Calvin Rogers at the head of a band 
of armed negroes had been seen in the neighborhood. 
" The town was alarmed and slept on its arms." ^ 

Governor Reed in Tallahassee followed the unfortunate 
course of events in Jackson County. He soon found himself 
in a difficult position. Conditions warranted the proclama- 
tion of martial law. White Radicals and black Radicals 
urged high-handed executive interposition with the aid of 
Federal bayonets, if necessary, but Reed hesitated to take 
this serious step. His " administration, now reeling and 
tottering from center to circumference," stated Wallace, 
" was called upon by Purman and others, ... to declare 
martial law in Jackson County. The Governor informed 
them that if this were done it would be the end of Repub- 
lican government in Florida, and refused peremptorily; 
first, because there were no circumstances that would jus- 
tify it; and second, there were no means provided by which 
to pay expenses." ^ Through the efforts of W. J. Purman 
the state Republican executive committee demanded that 
Reed declare martial law and send militia into Jackson 
County. To have sent negro militia would have meant in 
all probability savage and desperate race war. The gov- 
ernor, hating Purman, proposed " that if Purman would 
take command a regiment should be raised. Of course he 
declined," says Wallace, " as the governor knew he would." 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 80, no, 140, 145, 291. 

' Ibid., p. 81. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. in. 



578 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

There was no white mihtia to send into Jackson County, 
and Reed knew it. The situation was a delicate one. 

With remarkable poise the governor held to his decision 
that civil government, unaided by the military, could and 
must right affairs. He consistently declined to attempt any 
measures that would be considered by the native whites ar- 
bitrary and coercive. He was not in sympathy with the 
white Republican politicians of Jackson County, and at a 
later day expressed the opinion that they were responsible 
for the trouble there. ^ 

After a week of semi-anarchy in Jackson County two 
leading Conservative whites joined J. Q. Dickinson, the 
Republican justice of the peace, in a letter to the governor 
stating that the local government could maintain itself. 
The governor appointed a new sheriff of Jackson County — 
a Conservative white, Thomas W. West — and sent to Mari- 
anna two gentlemen. Southerners, to represent him in con- 
ciliating and making peace.^ At the same time the Federal 
war department, responsive to the call of local Republican 
officials in Florida, sent small detachments of troops to 
Marianna and Tallahassee, ostensibly to protect United 
States officials in the performance of their duties.^ This 
temperate policy proved to be a wise one for both governor 
and Federal war department. The Federal soldiers and 
the new sheriff were hooted at first, but in time the tension 
subsided. " The detachments [of Federal troops] sent 
were generally quite small," stated Secretary Schofield, 
" but almost without exception, their presence has been pro- 
ductive of good results in preserving the public peace, and 
enabling the civil authorities to enforce the laws." * How- 

• H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 205, 215. 
^Ibid., p. 81; Wallace, op. cit., p. in. 

' Rpt. Sect, of War, 1869, v. i, p. 85; 1870, v. i, p. 39. 

* Ibid., 1870, V. I, p. 39. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 579 

ever, it is true that the surveillance of night riders continued 
in West Florida and most of the prominent Radical politi- 
cians left the country. 

During the year 1869 other portions of Florida experi- 
enced lawless, violent conflicts, only a little less notor- 
ious than the reign of terror in Jackson County. The en- 
counters were usually very clearly between blacks and 
whites — and not always between blacks and Southern 
whites. For instance, a squad of Federal soldiers was 
ambushed by negroes near Jacksonville on February 22nd, 
1869, and one soldier killed in the fighting. In retaliation 
a company of Federal soldiers under an officer but not 
under orders " shot up " the negro quarters of Jackson- 
ville, killing one black boy and wounding two other negroes 
and a white man.^ 

The history of Lake City in Columbia County was al- 
most as troubled as that of Marianna. Conservative 
white regulators or " Ku Klux " were active. Timothy 
Francis, for example, was threatened by the local organiza- 
tion because he was too active in politics. He left the 
county and found work in the railway pump-house at San- 
derson. He was murdered near his place of labor just at 
dusk.^ Republicans attributed his death to regulators. 
James Green, another black of Columbia County, was taken 
from his house at night, carried off into the woods, and 
there probably forced under torture to give the secrets of 
the local Union League. His bloated and scarred body 
was found in a pond sometime after.® 

In Madison County (Central Florida), a white Repub- 
lican, Allison, was called to his door at night and mur- 

^ Floridian, March 2, 9, 1869. 

2 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 263. 

3 Ibid., pp. 165, 263. 



58o 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



dered. In the same locality Richard Smith, a mulatto, was 
taken at night from his bed, murdered, and his body left in 
a frightful condition — as a warning, probably — near his 
own doorstep. Two white men killed a negro in the county 
road, " dragged his body off a piece, and threw it in an old 
lime-sink ".^ 

The foregoing are specimens of assassination, not a list 
of casualties. In Alachua, Lafayette, Hamilton, Hernando, 
Suwanee, Calhoun, and Taylor Counties during 1868-70 
violent crime seems to have been very prevalent.^ Few 
localities escaped without some violence. If it was not 
assassination it was whipping, incendiarism, or attempted 
assassination. 

The whipping was sometimes disgustingly brutal. R. 
W. Cone, who experienced this form of outrage, tells the 
following typical story. 

I went to bed as usual that night, and in the night the ham- 
mering on the door woke me up. I hollered out, " Who's 
that ?" and raised up in bed at the same time ; as I raised up 
the door came open ; these men came in, and when they got 
into the room they struck a match, which showed them where 
the door of the bed-room was. . . . They took hold of me and 
pulled me to the door. I had on a long night-shirt, and when 
they got me to the door they pulled it over my head and 
twisted it up around my head and arms. One took me by the 
shirt and another by the legs and arms, and so they pulled 
me along; my wife started to come after me, and one man 
turned round and told her that if she came out and made a 
disturbance he would blow her damn brains out. She stopped 
at that. She knew the man who made the threat. . . . They 
carried me out a piece and laid me across a log, one hold of 
each arm, one hold of my head, and one hold of my feet ; 

' H. Rl^ts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 116, 121, 126, 259. 
« Ibid., pp. 54-57, 59-6o, 65, 74, 83, 168, 177. i79, 190, 217, 223, etc. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 58 1 

then another took what I supposed to be a leather strap and 
commenced whipping me. . . . From my thighs to the back of 
my neck blood was drawn from skin all over.^ 

" They whipped me from the crown of my head to the 
soles of my feet," said a woman who claimed she had been 
punished by the " True-Klux ". "I was just raw. The 
blood oozed out through my frock, all around my waist, 
clean through." ^ 

The actual compass of this painful phase of Florida's 
Reconstruction experience — the killings and whippings 
under cover of darkness — will never be known. Dead men 
tell no tales and usually those who suffered were not suffi- 
ciently enlightened to leave personal record of their lives. 
Those who did the killing, or the whipping, or the house- 
burning sought effectively to leave no record of their 
deeds. The counties worst aft'ected were Jackson, Alachua, 
Madison, Columbia, Hernando, Lafayette, Calhoun, Su- 
wanee, and Hamilton. These counties are not all con- 
tiguous. Lawlessness was prevalent in localities in almost 
every part of the state. However, abutting those counties 
in which terror reigned there were comparatively law-abid- 
ing and peaceful counties, almost free from assassinations, 
incendiarism, and whipping.^ The explanation of this phe- 
nomenon is a matter for sociological investigation. All 
counties were subjected to about the same fundamental eco- 
nomic, social, and political changes during the Reconstruc- 
tion period, but the stress and strain on people differed with 
the character of the population and the character of the 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 65. 

'Ibid., p. 60, Hannah Tut son. 

' Gadsden County, for instance, next to Jackson County, was rela- 
tively free from violent lawlessness, and so was Jefferson County, 
bordering Madison County. Lawlessness was not confined to the 
sparsely settled or poor white counties. 



e82 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

local political leaders. One aggressive and quarrelsome 
Radical could produce a reign of terror in any locality 
where the negro population was heavy. 

As to the actual number of homicides in Florida during 
Reconstruction and under Republican rule — 1867- 1876 — ■ 
estimates can at best be little more than guesses. At the 
outset the investigator is confronted with two very funda- 
mental facts: I, only incomplete and scanty statistics 
of crime in Florida during this period survive; 2, most 
general evidence and opinions on the subject originated 
with Radicals, who for a very clear reason exaggerated 
conditions South, in order to prove " conspiracy ". 

Called before a committee of Congress in 1871, Jona- 
than Gibbs, the negro secretary of state, said: " Here is a 
brief abstract I have made from letters concerning outrages 
and murders in some eight counties ; and that is not all. I 
am certain to the best of my belief that I understand the 
matter. You will see at the head of this list that I set down 
153 murders for Jackson County." The list was as fol- 
lows: Jackson County, 153, Madison County 20, Columbia 
County 16, Taylor County 7, Alachua County 16, Suwanee 
County 10, Hamilton County 9, Lafayette County 4.^ The 
Radical white sheriff of Madison put the number in his 
county at 37, not 20.^ J. Q. Dickinson, Radical, writing 
from Marianna early in 1871, estimated that about 75 per- 
sons had been murdered in Jackson County since the " be- 
ginning of Reconstruction " ; ^ while a former Conserva- 
tive regulator of that locality in conversation with me con- 
cluded that probably 175 murders were perpetrated in 
Jackson County during the entire Reconstruction period. 

^ H. Rfyts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 222. 
' Ibid., p. 125. 
' Ibid., p. 221. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 583 

The statements in the Federal census for 1870 indicate a 
much smaller number of violent deaths than the foregoing 
statements imply. The census estimate of homicides, 
deaths from " causes unknown ", and deaths from drown- 
ing and gunshot wounds in Florida for the year 1869-70 
was only 106. Clearly many of such deaths were not 
caused by violent lawlessness. The population of the state 
then being 187,748, the proportional number of violent 
deaths was one in 1,800 persons. In i860, it had been one in 
4,000. One violent or " unknown " death in 1,800 popula- 
tion was in 1870, according to the Federal census, three or 
four times as high as the proportion in the states undis- 
turbed by Reconstruction. In Iowa, for instance, about 
one in 7,000 met violent death. 

Making allowance for partisan exaggeration and inade- 
quate statistics, the conviction will probably remain with 
most investigators that under Radical rule the death rate 
in Florida from physical violence was alarmingly high for 
an American commonwealth in time of peace. 

The culminating Reconstruction tragedy in Marianna 
was the killing of J. Q. Dickinson. He was a carpet- 
bagger from Vermont, of kindly and even temper, who 
occupied an important place in local Republican politics. 
He was justice of the peace, then county tax assessor, and 
finally county clerk. He had seen Marianna pass through 
race conflicts which very narrowly missed being great 
calamities. He evidently lived in terror. " Good God, 
Hamilton, isn't this awful," he had written of the local 
situation.^ Though often threatened he stuck to his place 
with creditable nerve — trading actively meantime, his en- 
emies said, in property sold for taxes. At last, one night in 
April, 1871, shortly after resigning his place as clerk of the 

*■ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 291. 



584 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

county, he was crossing the same town square where two 
years before Finlayson — the wrong man — had been assassi- 
nated. The hour was nearly the same, ten o'clock. He 
had reached almost the same spot, deep in the shadows, 
where Finlayson and Purman had fallen, when a well- 
aimed shot, from out of the darkness somewhere, ended his 
career. 

The body was sent North to the family and the murder 
furnished Radickl politicians in Florida and out with added 
material for polemics against their political opponents.^ 
" The United States Government has assigned two places 
in the hall of statuary, to each state, for two of its most dis- 
tinguished citizens. I propose," announced Gibbs, negro 
secretary of state, 

that the legislature, at its next session, take the proper steps to 
fill one of these places with a life-size statue of Hon. J. Q. 
Dickinson, the martyr, saint, hero, who was slain in defense 
of the Reconstruction laws, April 3, in Marianna. ... He has 
acted his part nobly in the grandest tragedy of modern times. - 

After 1871, violent lawlessness in Florida perceptibly 
diminished. The principal causes of this partial restoration 
of social order were the following. First, many of the most 
active local Republican leaders, black and white, were 
cowed, dead, or driven from the state by 1871. Second, 
the enactment by Congress in 1871 of the Enforcement or 
Ku Klux Act turned the strength of the national govern- 
ment to the aid and protection of Southern Radicals. 
Third, the vigorous steps taken by the representatives of a 
Radical Congress to prove " conspiracy " against Conser- 

i/f. RptS., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 78, 85, in, 148, 192, 198, 
206, 217, 221. 

2 Ibid., p. 175. Letter of Gibbs to editor of Lake City Herald, Oct. 
29, 1871. 



THE OUTBREAK OF LAWLESSNESS 585 

vative leaders in Florida, frightened or discouraged many 
who had successfully and boldly defied local law. Under 
concurrent resolution a joint committee of the Senate and 
House was appointed in April, 1871, " to inquire into the 
condition of the late insurrectionary States, so far as re- 
gards the execution of the laws and the safety of the lives 
and property of the citizens of the United States." ^ On 
September 22nd, this committee chose two sub-committees 
to visit the Southern states to obtain information concern- 
ing the violation of the Federal Enforcement Act there. 
The sub-committee that visited Florida was made up of 
Senator Bayard, and Representatives Maynard, Scofield, 
Lansing, and Voorhees." 

Witnesses were subpoenaed and rather full testimony 
taken. The sub-committee, sitting in Jacksonville from 
November loth to November 14th, 1871, questioned thirty- 
three witnesses — Radicals and Conservatives — on lawless- 
ness in Florida. Eleven of the persons thus examined were 
negroes.* 

Fourteen cases of criminal prosecution under the Fed- 
eral Enforcement Act were instituted in the Federal courts 
in Florida during the December term, 1871. Only one man 
was convicted. Two cases were dropped, one reached ac- 
quittal, and ten went over till the next year.* By 1875, 
thirty-eight such criminal cases under the Ku Klux Act 
had been tried in Florida, resulting in six convictions only.° 

1 H. Rpis., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. i, p. 589, Journ. of Select Com- 
mittee. 

' Ibid., p. 613. 

' Ibid., V. 13. 

* Sen. Ex. Docs., 42nd C, 3rd S., no. 32, p. 24, — Rpt. of Fed. Dept. 
of Justice. 

^ H. Ex. Docs., 43rd C, 1st S., no. 6, p. 26; 2nd S., no. 7, pp. 26-27, 
— Rpts. of atty. gen. 1873-5. 



^86 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

However, the Federal department of justice expended in 
Florida during 1871-75 more than $30,000 annually for 
marshals, deputy-marshals, detectives, and testimony/ 
Such activity put a quietus on all but bold and very serious 
night-riders. In October, 1871, additional Federal troops 
were sent into Florida to help enforce the Ku Klux or 
Enforcement Act. The troops were stationed at Key West, 
Barrancas, St. Augustine, and Tallahassee.^ 

The criminal demoralization of the Reconstruction per- 
iod was frightful. Men formed the habit of defying the 
law and resorting to violence to attain their ends. The 
Southerner was certainly face to face with negro domina- 
tion foisted upon him by Federal law. He arose to pro- 
tect his own unwritten laws in order that his property, his 
self-respect, and his family might not be injured or de- 
stroyed. He resorted to physical violence under cover, in 
one of the most sinister and interesting contests of modern 
times. And in this contest for a very necessary supremacy 
many a foul crime was committed by white against black. 
Innocent people suffered. There is no mercy and scant 
justice in social adjustment. The negro was first freed, 
then enfranchised, then launched in practical politics, and 
then mercilessly beaten into reasonable subjection. " All 
that goes up must come down, upon somebody's head or 
upon the ground," said one conventional fatalist in com- 
menting on the situation. 

^ H. Ex. Docs., 43rd C, 1st S., no. 6, p. 43; no. 7, p. 32. 
^ Rpt. Sect, of War, 1871-2, v. i, pp. 60-62. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
An Inquiry into the Causes of Lawlessness 

It is seen that the inauguration of a Radical state gov- 
ernment in Florida was quickly followed by a perceptible 
increase in violent disregard of law. Most of the offenders 
were native whites. In politics they were Conservatives, 
which meant Democrats. The lawlessness in question con- 
sisted usually of whipping or killing negroes and white 
men actively identified with the Radical Republican party. 
This situation suggests a certain sequence, namely, that the 
lawlessness was the effect of establishing a local govern- 
ment dominated by negroes and Radical whites. Moreover, 
it should be borne in mind that the increase of lawlessness 
was coincidental with the removal of Federal military con- 
trol. As those persons attacked were very often Repub- 
lican politicians, the assumption is warranted that the real 
cause of this social mal-adjustment was political. 

Yet the conflict in Florida, on its face, was fundament- 
ally a race conflict. The Conservative was a white man 
uniformly. The Radical was either a negro or a white man 
closely identified politically with the negroes. The exist- 
ence of the Radical Republican party in Florida depended 
absolutely upon the negro vote. It was locally a black 
man's party. The native white became after 1865 more 
and more hostile to the black for many reasons, but prim- 
arily because the black had been roused to political class 
consciousness by the Radical Republican party. 

Now the average Southern white was opposed to the 



^88 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

negro as a voter and office-holder because of half-instinctive, 
half -rational race prejudice against the negro assuming 
political functions and privileges from which he had been 
hitherto excluded. Would the native white have been op- 
posed to the negro as a voter if the negro had cast the ballot 
only — had been excluded from office? Was it the fact 
that Radical politics elevated the negro to places of public 
trust, or the fact that negro votes elevated Radical poli- 
ticians, black and white, to places of public trust, that pro- 
duced such violent opposition among Southern whites to the 
Republican state government? Was the Southern white 
man opposed to Radicals or negroes? Obviously, he was 
opposed to each and therefore doubly opposed to a combi- 
nation of the two, although the average Southern white 
man's point of view seems fairly summed-up in the chance 
statement of one that " the damned Republican Party has 
put the niggers to rule us and we will not suffer it." ^ 

It is not the object of this inquiry to present the merits 
or demerits of the Conservative's contention. Certainly he 
resented bitterly the political elevation of the negro. When 
the negro justice issued writs and warrants or tried minor 
causes,^ when negro legislators went to Tallahassee to 
dominate with their white confederates the making of state 
laws, when negro county commissioners took their seats 
beside white men,^ when negro jurors sat in judgment, 
when negro rowdies with jeering crowded away the white 
voter at the polls, when negro tax officials put up for sale 
property forfeited because the white owners could not pay 
taxes, when negro posses hunted with guns for white of- 
fenders,* when negro constables arrested whites and dragged 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 94. 

* Ibid., p. 107. 3 iiid^ p 108. 

* Ibid., p. 220. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 589 

them to jail/ when negro politicians and their white 
friends proclaimed in public meeting the arrival of racial 
equality, political and social,^ and tried to clinch their as- 
sumptions with laws concerning hotels, theatres, and rail- 
way cars, — when these outward and visible signs of the 
Africanization of social institutions came under the eyes 
of whites, many individuals — rich and poor (most were 
poor), ignorant and enlightened — spoke and did things in 
a frenzy of race passion against the black. It made little 
difference how successful the black might have been in his 
elevated position. " To hell with arguments," exclaimed 
many a Southerner, with a heat suggested by the record of 
an incident in Jackson County. 

" It happened in this way," testified a negro ex-constable. 

I had some prisoners in charge by order of Judge Plantz [car- 
pet-bagger] and I had my pistols buckled to me. He [a certain 
white man well known and well connected in the neighbor- 
hood] said: "What are you doing with that pistol buckled to 
you ?" I said : " I have a prisoner in charge." He said : " I 
have a mind to blow your God-damn brains out, you God- 
damn-Radical-son-of-a-bitch ; you look pretty wearing a pistol 
buckled on you." I said: " I am a lawful officer and by order 
of Judge Plantz I am taking charge of these prisoners." He 
said: "If you say that word again I will blow your God- 
damn brains out, right now." He then walked up, took a 
stick and struck me in the mouth. ^ 

A similar homely outburst is recorded in connection with 
the sale of some forfeited property. 

Mr. C was to cry off the land. I [a negro constable] 

1 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, pp. 143, 273. Floridian, 
April 27, 1869. Statements by citizens of Florida who experienced Re- 
construction. 

* Floridian, May 21, 1867; N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 20, 1867. 

» H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 273. 



590 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



went around to ring the bell and met Mr. E within 

twenty-five yards of the court house. He said : " What are 

you ringing that bell for ?" I said : " Mr. D ordered 

me to ring it for the sale of the land. He said: " You God- 
damn-Radical-son-of-a-bitch, put that bell down or I will kill 
you." I let the bell fall.^ 

On matters pertaining to the negro in politics the native 
white was undoubtedly blindly prejudiced and consequently 
blindly uncompromising. But an explanation of the trouble 
between white Conservatives and white and black Radicals 
would be incomplete if such an explanation dealt only with 
the half -instinctive likes and dislikes of the Southerner as 
reflected in the political situation. There were other com- 
plicating factors in the general social and economic situa- 
tion in Florida, which played an obvious part in giving 
form to the way in which race prejudice and class preju- 
dice should assert themselves and become rational, or at 
least objectively explainable. What were these other fac- 
tors in the causation of lawlessness? 

In the first place, some of the lawlessness in Florida dur- 
ing Reconstruction was a direct heritage from the Civil 
War. It was part of the cost of war. White men had dif- 
fered over the right or expediency of Florida's secession in 
1 86 1. They had fought among themselves then. The Con- 
federate government, represented by local officials, had " se- 
questered " the property of " Union men ". The Federal 
government represented by soldiers or grafters had " con- 
fiscated " the property of Confederates. Union men had 
led raiding and plundering parties to despoil and persecute 
one-time neighbors who had cast their lots with the Con- 
federacy.^ Confederate " irregulars " had mercilessly 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 275. 

' For example, see Oif. Reds. Rebell, s. i, v. 35, pt. i, p. 390, Wood- 
bury's report, May, 1864. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 591 

burned the property of Union men and had hounded de- 
serters. When the war ceased the national government 
became the guardian of negro and Union man. Undoubt- 
edly such conditions laid a sure foundation for bitter neigh- 
borhood quarrels, which, when the war had passed, were 
settled with stored-up malice, short shrift and bloodshed. 
Colonel Sprague, Federal commander in Florida, reported 
in 1866, for instance, that the local courts were not in- 
clined to do justice in restoring sequestered property, be- 
cause most of those composing the courts were " interested 
directly or indirectly in the sequestered sales and were ex- 
asperated against them [Union men] for being deserters ". 
In August, 1866, he reported an " armed band of twelve 
mounted men in the vicinity of Tampa bay forcing the 
Union men to pay for cattle taken by Union troops during 
the War ".^ From Tampa during 1866 came reports of 
fierce neighborhood controversies over the title to property 
sequestered by the Confederate government, and in Fer- 
nandina and Jacksonville like controversy arose over prop- 
erty confiscated by the Federal government.' In both 
localities the quarreling led to physical violence. There 
was lawlessness culminating in killings in Bradford and 
Columbia Counties early in 1866. The social situation at 
Cedar Keys was declared in August to be " bad " for those 
hoping for peace.^ Finally, because of assaults and mur- 
ders arising evidently from neighborhood difficulties, the 
Federal military, in 1866, suspended the civil government 
in the counties of Escambia, Santa Rosa, Levy, Madison, 
and Alachua.* 

1 H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., No. 57, p. 89. 

» N. Y. Tribune, June 7; N. Y. Herald, May 31, 1866; H. Ex. Docs., 
40th C, 2nd S., No. 57. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., No, 70; 40th C, 2nd S., No. 57. 

* N. Y. Times, July 12, 1866; extract from Pensacola Observer. 



CQ2 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Now the one-time Union man became in many instances 
a " scalawag " (Southern white Republican), which fact in- 
creased the hostility of his Conservative neighbors who al- 
ready disliked him for what they believed he had done in 
the past. The " scalawag " saw an opportunity for better- 
ing himself by becoming active in leading and organizing 
the Republican negro levies. He was forced to share this 
leadership with the " carpet-bagger " and the " educated 
negro". Here we have moving in a vicious circle the course 
of conflict among native whites — beginning with politics 
in the past, working up through the confiscation and de- 
struction of war, and finally coming back again into politics, 
to be complicated and overshadowed by the race question. 

There developed in Florida very soon after the war 
widespread causes for quarrels between negroes and South- 
ern whites, which were fairly and squarely incidents in the 
working out of that new economic liberty which came to 
the black with his emancipation from slavery. For in- 
stance, from time to time white and black came into hot 
dispute over the ownership of land. Thousands of negroes 
sought to be landlords. Many occupied land as squatters, 
or purchased, or homesteaded land. In some localities 
within the state negro colonies were projected on govern- 
ment lands. The whites in the neighborhood of one such 
proposed settlement objected to negro landholders coming 
among them, and accordingly formed " combinations " to 
keep out negroes by fair means or foul.^ The evident fact 
that the negro was backed and directed by the Freedmen's 
Bureau but increased the opposition of the Southern white 
to negro land-owners. 

Furthermore, the black landseeker was generally ignor- 

> H. Ex. Docs., 39th C. 1st S., No. 70; 40th C, 2nd S., No. 57, p. 18; 
Floridian, Jan. 11, 1867. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 



593 



ant and became often the victim of fraud or error in the 
location and status of his property. John Wallace, a 
former slave and a prominent figure locally during Recon- 
struction, states that 

during the years 1865-67 there was much speculation among 
the freedmen as to what the government intended to do for 
them in regard to farms ; and as most of them had to work 
for a portion of the crop, it induced them to seek homes of 
their own. One Stonelake, United States land register at Tal- 
lahassee, appointed soon after the surrender, knowing this fact 
and taking advantage of the ignorance of the freedmen, issued 
to them thousands of land certificates purporting to convey 
thousands of acres of land. For each certificate the freedman 
was required to pay not less than five dollars, and as much 
more as Stonelake could extort from the more ignorant. He 
induced the most influential men to make the first purchases, 
and, it was generally believed, gave them a portion of his fees 
to secure purchasers. The former masters warned our people 
against this fraud, but as Stonelake was one of the represen- 
tatives of the paternal government, he was supposed by the 
freedmen to be incapable of fraud or deception. Many of 
them were led to believe that these lands consisted of their 
former masters' plantations, and that the certificates alone 
would oust the latter from possession.^ 

Negroes had little conception of the lawful way of 
settling land difficulties or of ousting the real owners, and 
their white disputants were sometimes almost as ignorant. 
The white was impatient with negro disputants, arrogant, 
and disinclined to enter into litigation with a negro backed 
by the Bureau. The whipping of Samuel Tutson is sug- 
gestive of how such quarrels often ended. " I bought a 
man's improvements," testified Tutson, 

' Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, pp. 39-40. 



594 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



a man by the name of Free Thompson. Mr. Tire and Mr. 
Thompson were first cousins. After Thompson was gone with 
my money that I let him have for his improvements, Tire 
came here and said it was his land. I asked him why he did 
not let me know when I first came here, and he said he wanted 
me to do a heap of work here before he bothered me. I said, 
"Are you going to give me anything at all for what I gave 
for the land ?" He said, " No." I said, "Are you going to 
give me anything for the crop in the ground ?" He said, " No." 
He said that it was his land, that Free Thompson had sold it 
to me, and that he wanted me to give it up. 

Tutson refused to give up the land and as a result he and 
his wife were whipped, their house pulled down, and they 
driven off the land.^ 

Similar controversies between white and black arose 
over the loss by whites of cotton, live stock, and plantation 
fixtures by theft, and outbuildings by fire. Dishonest and 
shiftless negroes and white men — particularly negroes — for 
several years following the war slaughtered in the woods 
hogs, sheep, and cattle which did not belong to them. Cot- 
ton was stolen from gin-houses and fields at night. Barns 
and gin-houses occasionally burned.^ The exasperated 
owners looked about for the thief or the incendiary and 
not infrequently seized and punished without recourse to 
law some negroes in the neighborhood.^ In Madison 
County, for instance, a negro man, his wife, and his 
daughter were all three severely whipped by whites as pun- 
ishment for stealing hogs.* 

Why did the white property-holders thus suffering from 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 56. 

* For instances, see complaints in Floridian, Nov. 27, 1867; Dec. 8, 
1868, etc. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 54. 

* Ibid., p. 127. 



THE CA USES OF LA IVLESSNESS 595 

depredation not turn to the courts for redress? Such a 
course would have been followed in Massachusetts and 
Connecticut, probably. In many back counties of Florida, 
however, white men were not accustomed to deal through 
the courts with black men. In this way the ideas of a 
slavery regime projected themselves, after the destruction 
of the institution itself, into Southern society. 

There were more immediate reasons which deterred 
some white men from criminally prosecuting in the courts. 
The juries were partly black after the spring of 1867 ; the 
judges were of a political stripe with the negro; and the 
Freedmen's Bureau might interfere. The native white felt 
that justice would not be done him in the courts.^ Such a 
condition as this tended to produce a habit of personal pun- 
ishment, outside of the law, that often degenerated into the 
worst form of persecution and brutality on the part of un- 
scrupulous white men. 

Another obvious economic cause for bad feeling between 
the races was the system of labor contracts as then admin- 
istered under the eyes of the Freedmen's Bureau. This sub- 
ject has been dealt with to some extent already. If most 
white men had been strictly honest ; and most negroes mod- 
erately intelligent, honest, and thrifty; and most agents of 
the Freedmen's Bureau competent and disinterested ser- 
vants of the law. there is no reason why the contract sys- 
tem should have caused much trouble. But unfortunately 
in many cases few of these conditions were true. Some 
white landlords were deliberately bent on getting the best 
of the negroes in the making of contracts for labor — bent 
on cheating them ^ — " but these are exceptional cases ", 

1 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 65. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 1st S., No. 70; 40th C, 2nd S., No. 57; Sen. 
Ex. Docs., 39th C, 2nd S., No. 6; H. Rpts., 41st C, 2nd S., No. 121. 
All of foregoing are Freedmen's Bureau Rpts. 



596 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



testified the Bureau commissioner in 1865/ The black 
was generally very ignorant and seldom very honest. 
A Florida negro in summing-up the situation said : 

In the first place, a majority of the negroes did not know how 
to make a contract for their interests. The farmers who 
make the contracts with them draw up the contracts in writing 
and read it to them. The colored people are generally unedu- 
cated, and when a contract says this or that, they hardly know 
what it means. A great many of the contracts give the far- 
mer a lien upon that portion of the crop that is coming to them 
[the negroes] for any debt they incur. Another reason why 
they do not get much is that in the months of August and 
September, mostly, when the crops are laid by, the slightest 
insult is sufficient to turn them off and, according to the con- 
tract, they get nothing. The contracts are made that way.^ 

This testimony contains the point of an important truth, 
but is partisan and would have been juster had it included 
reference to two things : first, the common practice of 
Bureau officials of passing on contracts before they were 
signed ; second, the common practice of negroes of drawing 
in advance all that was to be paid them.^ At the end of 
the season when the landlord refused to pay them more, 
they would carry a complaint to the Bureau. 

This institution, the Bureau, we have seen, exercised 
control over contracts and was often arbitrary and unwise, 
and if not downright dishonest it was thought to be so by 
many reputable Southern whites.* In Jackson County, for 

^Sen. Ex. Docs., 39th C, 2nd S., No. 6, p. 275. 

" H. Rf^ts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. loi. 

^ Ibid., p. 106. Meacham, on being closely questioned, admitted the 
truth of this practice. 

* See criticism of Bureau in Wallace, op. cit., pp. 40-41 ; Rerick; 
Memoirs of Florida, v. i, p. 31c:. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 597 

instance, contracts already made were broken by order of 
the local Bureau agent, charges levied for the making 
of new contracts, " and," said C. F. Hamilton, the agent, 
" I called a meeting of the citizens of the county before 
we went into the new contract movement, in order to devise 
some uniform system of free labor in the state ". You 
say " a meeting of citizens. I suppose you mean the 
hired laborers?" (negroes), was asked of Hamilton. "Yes, 
sir," was the reply.^ For a Federal official to call together 
in public meeting at that time the negroes, in order to devise 
with them what terms would be offered to the white land- 
lords, their former masters, was not a measure fashioned 
toward making peace. In the eyes of the Southern planter 
it was putting the cart before the horse with vicious and 
cunning intent. 

Underlying all economic causes for opposition by Con- 
servative white to the negro and his white political asso- 
ciate, was the deplorable condition of state finances, public 
and private, after the first two or three years of Repub- 
lican rule. The immediate questions for consideration 
here are : first, how did this bear upon the individual citi- 
zen ? second, how did it help produce, directly or indirectly, 
physical violence? 

Most property-holders in Florida were Conservative 
Southern whites. They found themselves obliged to pay 
taxes which mounted at a rate that was almost confiscatory 
because of the demoralization of Southern industry. This 
threatened to reduce some planters to a hopeless state of 
debt, and to bring to pass a widespread forced sale by offi- 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, pp. 281-2, testimony of 
Hamilton ; also see testimony « f J. J. Williams, Conservative, p. 232. 
H. Ex. Docs.. 40 h C, 2nd S.. No. 57. P- 77- Col. Flint (U. S. A.) 
declared in May, 1866, that " combinations " existed among blacks to 
force white landlords to pay high wages. 



598 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

cers of the law. These officers, who were black and white 
Republicans, traded actively in forfeited property. The 
taxable property (real and personal) of the state in 1870 
was estimated to represent a value of $34,439,059. Upon 
this valuation, considered by many an arbitrary and raised 
valuation, were assessed for the fiscal year 1869-70 state 
taxes amounting to $234,672 ; county taxes amounting to 
$168,387; and town taxes amounting to $79,000; in all 
$482,070.^ This tax of one-half million dollars had to be 
paid largely out of the income from personal property, 
because so much of the real property was not producing a 
surplus, and mortgages on relatively small bits of real es- 
tate in Florida could raise little money at this time. Per- 
sonal property was assessed at $11,721,521. Therefore it 
is seen that yearly taxes in Florida amounted to more than 
four per cent of the total value of personal property in the 
state, and probably 75 per cent of the gross income from 
such property. The taxes were rising. For 1871-72, state, 
county, and municipal taxes amounted to almost a million 
dollars,^ more than eight per cent of the total value of per- 
sonal property and almost two and one-half per cent of all 
property. The state tax rate alone mounted from fifty 
cents on the $100 in 1867 to $1.37 in 1871.^ 

" I do not think that the surplus of the state will pay the 
taxes of the state," said Republican Judge Long in 1871, 
before a Republican committee of Congress — " take the 
railroad tax, school tax, militia tax, county tax, state tax, 
and municipal tax. Owing to the recent storms here and 
the distress of the country I do not think there will be a 
surplus in the state to pay the taxes. The owner of a farm 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. i, p. 160. 

' Ibid., V. 13, p. 209. 

* Herbert, Why the Solid South? [Pasco], p. 157. 



THE CA USES OF LA IVLESSNESS 



599 



will have to not pay his laborers if he pays his taxes. 
Farmers have failed in their crops." When asked if these 
taxes could be collected without a forced sale by the state, 
Long replied, " Not in a great many parts of the state." ^ 
Another white Republican — a man of property from the 
North, who had invested in Florida — declared, " It [the 
tax rate] has increased abominably. A year or two after 
the War the tax rate in this county [Leon] was $5,000. 
Now [1871] it is $30,000, and according to the estimate it 
may run up to $60,000." ^ 

The " Tax Payers Convention " composed of Republi- 
cans and Democrats, which met in September, 1871, de- 
clared that taxes were oppressively high, and the system of 
collection oppressively harsh in its operation. " The pres- 
ent exorbitant rate of taxation," ran its resolutions, " is 
not only detrimental to the prosperity of the State but an 
injustice to a large mass of the citizens who are compelled 
to bear the burdens of its payment, and which must from 
necessity militate against the poor as well as the rich, and 
especially upon the laboring and producing class of our citi- 
zens." ' 

A Democratic judge spoke of the situation as follows : 

There is another thing I would like to speak of, and that is 
the deplorable condition of affairs in our State — a wasteful 
expenditure of public money, a reckless disregard for the in- 
terest of the State in creating obligations, that has grown out 
of the administration of the government under its head. I 
have no hesitation in saying so. . . . Our taxation has grown 
gradually from $120,000 at the outside to $460,000; the in- 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 211. The gross value of 
all products in Florida for 1871 was estimated to be $9,000,000.00; v. i, 
p. 161. 

2 Ibid., V. 13, p. 242. 

• Ibid., p. 209; Rerick, op. cit., v. i, p. 321. 



6oo RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

debtedness of the State from $700,000 to from $8,000,000 to 
$9,000,000, including bonds authorized to be issued. The credit 
of the State of Florida to-day is utterly worthless and pros- 
trate.^ 

The foregoing testimony from Democrats and Repub- 
licans is indicative that the fiscal program of the common- 
wealth government was, by 1871, bearing heavily upon the 
pockets of the property-holders. The property-holders 
were Conservatives. Most of the other people were ne- 
groes. The Conservatives were whites. They had once 
ruled the state. Having been driven from power by a hos- 
tile national government they were now merely the gov- 
erned, not fhe governors. " Conquered states." once wrote 
Machiavelli, " that have been accustomed to liberty and the 
government of their own laws, can be held by the con- 
queror in three different ways. The first is to ruin them." 
The Italian's conclusion was, strangely enough, not a bad 
expression of the opinion of the average Southern prop- 
erty-holder in Florida. He had reason to believe that the 
state, now controlled by newcomers, was ruining him. 
Even discounting the accuracy of figures and making al- 
lowance for exaggeration and lying from political bias, the 
general conclusion will remain that in Florida many peo- 
ple at least thought taxes were high and heavy.^ 

" I hope there is a sentiment among the members of the 
legislature to relieve the people of Florida, for they are in 
a very critical condition so far as their finances are con- 
cerned," stated Republican Judge Long in 1871.^ 

Faced by a tax which either he could not pay at all, or 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 301 ; v. i, pp. 160-7; 34°- 
344- 
^ fbid., pp. 244-S; An. Cyclo., 1871. 
3 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 212. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 6oi 

could pay only with considerable sacrifice, the property- 
holder damned the government, or, more accurately, the 
political party administering that government. He was not 
inclined to combat violence directed against the rank and 
file of that party in efforts to drive it from power. Thus 
the onerousness of the tax rate aided in creating a dissatis- 
faction and an adverse public opinion among Southern 
whites against the Radical regime, and this public opinion 
countenanced a defiance of law for the accomplishment of a 
certain end. The end sought was the overthrow of Radical 
rule. 

In examining the record of lawlessness in Florida dur- 
ing this period, account must be taken of those fundamental 
defects in human nature which in times of social unrest are 
apt to produce the phenomenon known as the " bad man ". 
The malicious person comes quickly to the surface amid 
the demoralization of a revolution. Some persons enjoy 
being bullies and blackguards because fundamentally all 
persons get pleasure in being positively what they are. 
Some degenerates have the normal sense so far warped as 
physically to enjoy brutality. The man who rapes the 
corpse of his victim is such a pathological specimen. Many 
incidents in the course of Reconstruction violence were the 
work of bad men — pathological criminals — taking advan- 
tage of social disorder to wantonly work mischief or to 
satisfy private grudges of trifling import.^ 

Whiskey was a potent cause in making a malicious man 
more malicious, or of transforming for a time an ordinarily 
harmless citizen into a dangerous man." The drunken negro 

' The whipping of the Tutsons and of W. R. Cone seems to have 
been the work of thugs. Young- white boys often played the part of 
rowdies. H. R{)ts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, pp. 54-60, 62-72, 96, 
1.^4- 

' ^7. Rt>ts.. 42nd C. 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13. pp. 176-184, 187, 204-5. The 
killing of Dr. Krimminger was probably the work of a man crazed 
with liquor. 



6o2 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

in the little towns became insistently insolent and invited 
killing. The white man in a drunken row sought rather 
than avoided trouble — and usually with a pistol in his hip 
pocket.^ 

A certain circuit judge of that period said : 

I will state further that there are bad men in our country, as 
I suppose there are in every country, who band themselves 
together, three or four at a time, and perform certain bad 
deeds. Two or three bad men will get together for malice or 
revenge or hatred and to carry out a certain object will do a 
great many bad deeds. . . . There are a few bad men in every 
county that I have been in. 

The paralyzed condition of local government soon after 
the inauguration of Republican rule contributed consid- 
erably toward lawlessness and crime by offering weak com- 
bat against its development. It was often impossible to en- 
force the law because citizens refused to act in certain 
public capacities, or if they did act, they sought to hinder 
the operation of the law rather than to further its enforce- 
ment.^ 

" I believe the officers are disposed to do their duty," tes- 
tified Republican Judge Tidwell. " But I do not believe 
that everyone will give the officers the assistance neces- 
sary." ^ " So far as the laws are concerned," stated a negro 
preacher-politician, " the laws of this state are as good as 
any man can ask, but I am sorry to say that they have not 
been carried out in many cases." * 

1 Many white men habitually went armed. See presentment of grand 
jury of Leon County, May, 1869; also proclamation of mayor of Talla- 
hassee, Floridian, Nov. 12, 1867; also H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, 
V. 13. 

« Ibid., p. 258. 

3 Ibid., p. 115. 

^Ibid., p. i6s, C. H. Pearce. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 603 

A hostile public opinion among Southern whites some- 
times deterred officers from acting. " I had a case that 
occurred a while ago with my deputy," said the Radical 
white sheriff of Madison County. " A man came in town 
named Packer, pulled a pistol on a colored man and said 
he was going to shoot him. The deputy said : ' Put that 
pistol up or I will arrest you.' Some half-dozen men stepped 
up and said he could not arrest him." ^ 

The sheriff of Jackson County was unable often to serve 
warrants during 1868-70 because public sentiment was so 
strongly and dangerously against him. He claimed that he 
received threatening letters and that he feared for his life 
if he went out of Marianna to serve a warrant. On one 
occasion he was assaulted in the streets of that town and 
severely beaten.^ The town marshal of Lake City was de- 
fied and fired upon. The Republican sheriff of Columbia 
County was driven from the village of Ellisville and forced 
to resign his office. The United States deputy marshal in 
Lake City v^^as openly resisted and unable to make arrests.'^ 

Government broke down in other directions, notably in 
the actions of coroners' juries, grand juries, and petit 
juries.* In the case of killings, the coroner's juries ren- 
dered almost invariably the verdict " killed by unknown ", 
and the matter ended there. At Marianna on one occasion 
the crowd would not allow an inquest over the body of a 
murdered negro.^ White men refused to act on coroner's 
juries and many negroes feared to do so, and feared to 
render a true decision if they did so. 

Although the murders, attempts at murder, and whip- 
pings in Florida during the first three or four years of 

1 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 130. 
' Ibid., p. 148. * Ibid., p. 263. 

* Ibid., p. 203. ^ Ibid., p. 79. 



6o4 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Radical rule numbered at least many hundreds, the num- 
ber of prosecutions attempted by the state and county 
courts were very few. In the vast majority of cases, the 
grand juries did not issue an indictment. When, for in- 
stance, the Jewish merchant Fleishman was openly seized 
and carried out of Jackson County by a band of armed citi- 
zens, the grand jury rendered this verdict: " We the grand 
jury have examined diligently into the within case and 
cannot find it a case of kidnapping." ^ 

"If the grand juries could be brought to find true bills, 
they could do it upon the evidence which v/ould be pre- 
sented to them, but they are in fear and cannot be made to 
do it," stated W. J. Purman, Republican boss of Jackson 
County. " Petit juries will not convict these murderers 
because of the general sentiment which justifies their pro- 
ceedings." ^ 

" Do you think you could convict and punish a white 
man in your county to the extent of the law for killing a 
colored man? " was asked Colonel Lemuel Wilson, a repu- 
table native white Republican of Alachua County. He re- 
plied: 

I will tell you my opinion that I have expressed everywhere 
among our people. It is that I believe that a negro's rights — 
his rights of property — would be secure before a jury, that a 
jury of our country would grant him perfect rights in a court 
of law in a matter of property, but in criminal matters I do 
not think they would. I think it is a difficult matter to convict 
a white man of murder for killing a negro. I am sorry to say 
it, but that is my opinion.* 

1 H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, pp. 81-2. 

* Ibid., p. 148. 

* Ibid., p. 197; see also testimony of L. G. Dennis, p. 268, and of Wm. 
Bryson, p. 258. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 605 

These expressions of opinion were from white Repub- 
licans and hence are justly subject to criticism as partisan. 
They dealt with courts and juries controlled by Southern 
whites. Such courts and juries were not found in all parts 
of Florida. The Conservative whites were determined to 
avoid punishing those whites accused of killing or mal- 
treating negroes or white Republicans, but, on the other 
hand, the Conservative whites were not inclined to seek to 
persecute the negro through the courts and juries which 
they might control. 

Before the reconstruction of the state government by 
Congress the Freedmen's Bureau officials often denied that 
the black obtained justice in the state courts. General 
Foster, Federal commander in Florida, stated in July, 1866, 
that when Southern Conservatives constituted the court 
" the instances of injustice in the administration of the law 
by the courts have been so frequent as to lead the colored 
people generally to regard them as only engines of oppres- 
sion to the race. This necessarily engenders in them a dis- 
position to suspect, to evade, or even to combine for safety 
or resistance." ^ 

Judge Douglas, an old resident of Florida, and a one- 
time supporter of the Confederacy, referred in 1871 to 
this question of juries and justices in the following obser- 
vation. 

I can say with the most perfect confidence and with all the 
solemnity which I could attach to my oath, that I have never 
seen justice more impartially administered to any race of men, 
than it has been to the colored man. There are two courts in 
the State which have criminal jurisdiction: one is the circuit 

' H. Ex. Docs., 40th C, 2nd S., No. 57, pp. 12-13. In 1871, R. W. 
Cone, scalawag, stated that it was impossible for a Republican to get 
justice in a state court when Conservatives were involved. " They al- 
ways bring up evidence ;o clear themselves," he said. 



6o6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

court, which has jurisdiction of felonies, and the other is the 
county court, which has jurisdiction of misdemeanors. I prac- 
tice in both the courts, and there are abundant men who can 
testify that I probably do more practice for the colored man 
than any other man in the State. I can say that since '68, 
since the organization of the government, I think I have de- 
fended over a hundred colored people, and I have not received 
for my services $50. I do it without reward. There are other 
lawyers who do the same thing. During that time I have 
never seen a jury of white men exclusively. There are always 
some colored men on the jury. . . . Colored people have fair 
trials, and I think there is a disposition on the part of the 
jurors, especially white jurors, to treat with remarkable leni- 
ency all their shortcomings. In defending a colored man I 
would as soon have a jury of intelligent white men, former 
slaveholders, as black men. I would feel as confident of hav- 
ing justice done him.^ 

No mention has been made so far of two powerful causes 
of racial and political estrangement during Reconstruction 
times — namely, negro secret societies, and incendiary ad- 
vice to blacks from Radical white leaders, among whom 
were many Freedmen's Bureau officials. The general char- 
acter of Union Leagues and Lincoln Brotherhoods has been 
discussed in a previous chapter. The prime purpose of 
these leagues and brotherhoods was to defeat the Conserva- 
tive whites at the polls. They helped compass this defeat 
but also helped arouse a fear and a resentment which 
shortly bore bitter and bloody fruit. 

White and black Radical leaders were suspected by the 
Conservative Southerner of making to negro audiences, in 
churches and lodge-rooms, speeches full of criminal sug- 
gestions and revolutionary advice.^ In a word, the black 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 299. 

* Floridian, Aug. 30, Sept. 17, 1867. Wallace, op. cit., p. 107. H. 
Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 231. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 607 

was sometimes counseled to get his so-called rights even if 
he had to commit a crime. Gin-houses of white landlords 
were burned. Negroes assumed a bold and threatening at- 
titude. Black military companies were organized.^ Assass- 
inations were occasionally perpetrated by blacks. The fol- 
lowing notice, found posted one spring morning in 1868 on 
the post-office door in Monticello, is suggestive of the inso- 
lent point of view of the negro. " We understand that the 
White PeoPle in This Place Say they iNTend to Kill some 
of the colored PeoPle in This Place if such a thing is 
started Hear We Would Not give much for this Place 
Town and PeoPle."^ 

Thus as an instigator of evil, the " bad man " among 
Republicans proved an unfortunate sort of counterpoise for 
the few reckless and dirty Southern whites among Conser- 
vatives who, hiding behind the issue of righteous conflict 
for the supremacy of the white race, carried on wanton per- 
secution usually in the dark of the moon. 

" We know that colored men are prejudiced and ignor- 
ant," observed a Southern white man at the time, " but 
generally willing to do right. They are led astray by bad 
and wicked men." He referred to the notorious white Radi- 
cal leaders in Florida. 

In seeking for some major cause underlying violent law- 
lessness in Florida during Reconstruction we are forced 
back to the conclusion begun with, that affecting in some 
fashion most cases of flagrant disregard for law was poli- 
tics- — the desperate contest waged between Conservative 
and Radical. It is true that society was in a demoralized 
condition after the war, and it is true that crime thrives 
amid social demoralization, but no such reign of assassina- 

^H. Rpts., 42nd C. 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 122. 

* Floridian, May 5, 1868, from Jefferson Gazette, May i. 



6o8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tion and terror would have come to pass if the political 
contest within the state had not taken on the form of a 
racial and class contest. The Southern whites, as a class, 
were determined on driving the Republicans from political 
control because, to the Southerner, the rank and file of that 
party were for racial reasons obnoxious as voters or office- 
holders. 

To the Republican politician this uncompromising atti- 
tude of the Southern white was strange and bad. " Judg- 
ing from the demonstrations that are made," said VV. J. 
Purman, " the object must be the extirpation of the promi- 
nent Republican and Union men in this country for the 
purpose of seizing hold of the state government and state 
offices. In other words, the object is the murder of the 
leaders of the Republican party in the state, and the intimi- 
dation of the other Republicans, and in this way to obtain 
possession and control of the state government." ^ This 
conclusion while painful was, in part, a correct view of the 
situation. 

But what of the objects of the other side? What was 
the prime object of Radical Republican leaders? They 
were not in politics for their health. A question asked a 
Republican judge of Florida, and his answer, sum up fairly 
the situation. " Do I understand that you attribute the 
bad condition of feeling and lawlessness in your commu- 
nity to the causes that you have mentioned, that is to say, 
to the ambition of men lately come into your state to pro- 
vide themselves with office, and their efforts to use the 
colored race as stepping stones to obtain them?" asked 
Senator Bayard of the judge. The judge, after a pause, 
replied : " That is the whole truth of the whole matter 
when you come to think it out." " 

* H. Rpis., 42nd C. 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 149. 

* Ibid., p. 208. 



THE CAUSES OF LAWLESSNESS 609 

The political contest for the control of Florida drew 
more sharply the line between the races and accentuated the 
spirit of distrust between men of opposing parties. There 
was scant ground for compromise. The Conservatives, as 
one Radical put it, " make no distinction about men who 
have joined the Republican party. A Northern man is * a 
damn Yankee who came here to rule us ' and a Southern 
man who joined the Republican party is ' a damn scala- 
wag ' and there was no honesty about him ; he was a traitor 
to his country and to his race." ^ 

In the desperate effort to remove " the bottom rail " 
from the top, the average Southern white man was will- 
ing to try almost any expedient. " One man says that he 
would sooner have a king anyhow, that he would sooner 
have the King of Dahomey," declared Malachi Martin, the 
Radical Irish-American prison warden." He had been al- 
most overcome in recent rioting over the elections in Gads- 
den County. " While Mr. Meacham [a negro] was ad- 
dressing a meeting at Ouincy," said Martin, " I heard one 
gentleman say ' Damn him, I wish he and all the Radicals 
were in Hell and I had the key.' I was near him and asked 
him on which side of the door he wanted to be. He said 
he did not know but that he would be damned if he would 
not be willing to be inside if he could keep all the others in 
there." ' 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 100. 
* Ibid., p. 195. 
» Ibid., p. 187. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Party Politics to the Beginning of Republican 
Decline, and After 

Before Republicans succeeded in establishing a new 
government for Florida they were fiercely quarreling 
among themselves. It has been seen that the inauguration 
of a system which they completely controlled did not bring 
harmony either within the party or without. The negro 
politician and his seedy, aggressive white associate set 
bad examples, and their escapades helped fan into vicious 
flame any Conservative prejudices which might have been 
smouldering. The experiences of 1868-9 indicated several 
unpleasant things for most Southern whites : the state was 
being looted; they were receiving no part of the loot; 
bloody lawlessness was increasing; government was degen- 
erating into a mockery. The Republican party, backed by 
crushing and well-drilled negro majorities, seemed safely 
established for a long period. The dissension among Rad- 
ical leaders was for the time the white man's hope, and 
about his only hope. Radicals might become sufficiently 
divided to lose their grip upon the destinies of the state. 

The negro, William U. Saunders — termed popularly 
" Colonel Saunders " — who soon after his arrival in Flor- 
ida from Baltimore became a confederate of Billings and 
Richards in the constitutional convention, was induced to 
return to the regular Republican organization on the signal 
defeat of his faction in this convention. His suppression 
was only temporary, however. In the autumn of 1868. an 
organization entitled " The Unterrified Tiger Committee," 
610 



PARTY POLITICS 6ll 

announced him as an " independent candidate " for Con- 
gress in opposition to the regular RepubHcan nominee, 
Hamilton, and the Democratic nominee, Barnes.^ The 
Democrats encouraged Saunders's secession. "As a speaker 
we have never heard him equaled," stated the Conservative 
Floridian, with some truth, maybe. *' His manner is gen- 
teel and his language is good. Between him and Hamilton 
there is no comparison." The regular Republican news- 
papers accused the Democratic state committee of bribing 
Saunders to become a candidate by the payment of $500 
and the gift of a pass over the Pensacola and Georgia Rail- 
road." 

Saunders made a brisk campaign. " I will not seek for 
place or power through base, deceitful ends," he wrote, 
" or like my rival, Hamilton, go back upon my friends. 

" 'Tis said one of our senators [Osborn] 

Was begged to lend his voice 

To ask a grant, for Florida, 

Of land both rich and choice. 

And this, my white and colored friends, this was his sole reply: 

' By God, I'll never ask for it without the chance to buy! ' 

My friends your vo es for Congress I confidently claim, 

And in return I pledge to you my hopes of wealth and fame; 

That to the interests of all, I shall prove firm and true; 

And any bill for your relief, why boys, I'll push her through." ' 

Colonel Saunders's trade in Baltimore had been that of 
barber, not poet. He was not elected to Congress. The 
regular Republican, Hamilton, was elected by more than 
2,000 majority.** 

' Floridian, Nov. 17. Dec. 8, 29. 1868; N. Y. Herald, Nov. 18, 1868. 

" Floridian, Nov.-Dec, 1868, passim. 

' Floridian, Dec. 8, 1868. 

* Floridian, May 11, 1868. The vote in this election was: Ham'lton 
(Republican), 9,749; Barnes (Democrat), 6,642; Saunders (Tndep. Re- 
pub.), 877. Hamilton carried eleven out of the thirty-nine counties in 
Florida. Saunders carried one coun y, Alachua. 



6i2 . RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Lack of harmony among local Radicals was apparent 
in another quarter. Governor Reed had won his first con- 
test with the legislature. He was not impeached and Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Gleason was legally driven from office. 
Yet when the legislature met on January 4th, 1869, Gleason 
was still acting as president of the senate, regardless of 
the " ouster " presented by the state supreme court on De- 
cember I4th.^ However, both houses sought an entente 
cordiale with the executive. The senate of twenty-four 
members by a vote of ten to one adopted resolutions 
amicable toward the governor.^ The lower house, which 
had striven to impeach the governor, adopted resolutions 
of confidence and elected a new speaker, M. L. Stearns.^ 
The quiet audacity of Stearns, a " military carpet-bagger ", 
was to put him high in state politics. He arose to thank his 
electors and only one arm was used to punctuate his re- 
marks. The other sleeve was empty. Stearns was a dis- 
abled veteran of the Union army. He had met his mishap 
in the Battle of Winchester. He had gone from the army 
to the Freedmen's Bureau in Florida in 1866. About thirty 
years of age, shrewd and physically courageous, he proved 
to be able to play well the complicated game of petty poli- 
tics in Florida.* 

^ Floridian, Feb. 2, 1869; N. Y. World, Jan. 11, 1869; N. Y. Herald, 
Jan. 15, 1869. An. Cyclo., 1869-70. On Jan. 10, 1869, Gleason vacated 
the Presidency of the Senate, having sent in his resignation. On Jan. 
14, the Senate confirmed the appointments made by Governor Reed 
since his impeachment. The Senate before its adjournment also con- 
firmed the removal by Reed of Jenkins as County Judge in Alachua 
Coun'y " for neglect of duty and for false and libellous charges against 
the Chief Magistrate." 

^ An. Cyclo., 1868-9. 

■■'A''. Y. Herald, Jan. 9, 1869; An. Cyclo., 1868-9. 

* H. Rpts., 42 C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 75-93. 



PARTY POLITICS 613 

One Republican of this period infers that the " Federal 
office-holders " were still hostile to Governor Reed and 
were willing to combine with the Democrats to get rid of 
him.^ The second effort to impeach originated in January, 
1869, from a motion to investigate the doings of Governor 
Reed made by a Republican, Samuel Walker, an old ally 
of Liberty Billings and an old opponent of Reed. The 
house refused to entertain his motion, but when George P. 
Raney, a Democrat, moved that a committee be appointed 
to inquire into the activities of the chief executive, his 
motion was passed, thirty to five.^ 

The second attempt at impeachment had now begun. 
Tallahassee was at this time the place of rendezvous for 
numerous men who were seeking sundry favors of the 
legislature and who were willing to pay for what they got. 
The more prosperous of such lobbyists established them- 
selves at the Capitol hotel. Champagne, oyster-suppers, an 
extra supply of whiskey and cigars, and well-equipped car- 
riages were the vulgar physical evidences of these few pro- 
moters of legislation. Their presence helped to enliven 
the town as well as to debauch the slender reputations for 
honesty of some of the legislators.^ Incidentally the re- 
sources of the state were being frittered away for a mess of 
poor pottage. 

The friends of Governor Reed stated stoutly that the 
" lobbyists " were using money to create an opinion in the 
legislature for the impeachment of the governor. How- 
ever, it is true that at this time the governor was on rather 
good terms with probably the most notorious and able of 
the extra-legal makers of law then in Florida — Milton S. 

' Wallace, op. cii., pp. 91 and 93. 
^ An. Cycle, 1868-9; Wallace, op. cit., pp. 93-94. 

' Ibid., chaps. 7, 8 and 11. Wallace was an active Republican poli- 
tician in Tallahassee at the time — a leader among the negroes. 



6i4 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Littlefield/ Compactly built, with an almost hypnotically 
clear eye, a ready tongue, an agile brain, a supply of money, 
and a lordly air which made the more humble among those 
who smoked his cigars and drank his whiskey feel honored 
if he deigned even to bribe them, this man, who came into 
Florida from Maine, bent the Florida legislature to his will 
and managed to place Governor Reed in a very compromis- 
ing position." Littlefield was seeking state aid for a certain 
railroad in Florida. The character of this incident will be 
considered later. 

Before the end of the month of January, 1869, rumor 
had it that the house committee of investigation had found 
record of impeachable actions of the governor. So dam- 
aging were the reports that Reed was privately requested 
to resign.^ With characteristic combativeness he refused 
to do so. His friends in the legislature managed to push 
through a motion for the appointment of a committee to 
investigate certain charges of bribery circulated against 
certain members of the legislature. It is highly probable 
that some men there found themselves awkwardly placed 
for investigation by the legislature or the courts. Reed 
probably had a club over the heads of some of his enemies.* 

' See letter of Swepson to Reed, May 31, 1869, Wallace, op. rit., p. 
119. Wallace states that it was a forged document — forged by U. S. 
Senator Osborn to discredit Reed. On i s face and coupled with the 
success of Littlefield in dealing with the Governor it constitutes a 
damaging piece of evidence agamst Reed. 

'Floridian, April 29, Dec. 16, 1873; Nov. 9, Dec. 21, Dec. 28, 1875. 
Efforts had been made by Governor Holden, of N. C., to arrest Little- 
field and have him sen': to N. C, where in Buncombe County he was 
indicted for embezzlement. The Raleigh Daily News, April 10, 1873, 
stated that " Littlefield is a great offender and together with his con- 
federate Swepson has swindled N. C. out of several million dollars." 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 96. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 95. 



PARTY POLITICS 615 

On January 26th, United States Senator Osborn ap- 
peared in the hall of the house. He had come from Wash- 
ington/ On this day the committee of investigation 
brought in its expected report. Among other things it 
charged the governor with having been bribed by the pay- 
ment of $500 for the appointment of a clerk of Leon 
County and of unlawfully using state funds to the amount 
of $6,948. The report recommended the impeachment of 
the executive. By a vote of forty-three to five the house re- 
fused to impeach.^ 

The governor, a second time triumphant, summoned the 
legislature to meet in special session on June 8th, in order 
to consider the proposed Fifteenth Amendment to the 
United States Constitution and the question of extending 
aid to the Pensacola, Jacksonville, and Mobile Railroad.' 
The proposed Fifteenth Amendment, which had passed the 
national Congress on February 26th, was duly ratified by 
the Florida legislature — in the house, June nth, by a vote 
of twenty-six to thirteen; in the senate, June i6'th, by a 
vote of thirteen to eight.* The Conservative whites of 
Florida, as helpless for the time as their fellow whites in 
neighboring states, saw with sad disgust the national gov- 
ernment bind with one more band the burden of negro suf- 
frage upon the country. The black's participation in poli- 
tics had already reduced enormously the efficiency of gov- 
ernment in Florida. 

When on January 4th, 1870, the legislature convened in 
regular session the governor had become sufficiently con- 

1 Wallace, o/j. cit., p. gg. 

* An. Cyclo., 1869-70. The vote was taken Jan. 26, 1869. 

* An. Cycle, 1869-70. 

* An. Cyclo., 1869-70. This session of the legislature ended June 24. 



(3i6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

vinced that bribery had been going on to refer pointedly 
in his message to " conspiracies formed to secure control 
of the financial policy of the state in the interests of cor- 
rupt men." ^ Some of the legislators professed to think 
as Governor Reed thought, but they considered him guilty 
of collusion with the grafters. On January 21st, 1870, a 
white Republican moved that a committee of five be ap- 
pointed to investigate the doings of the executive. The 
motion passed.^ The senate voiced its hostility to Reed by 
expelling from the senate the appointee of Reed to the lieu- 
tenant-governorship, Edwin Weeks. The investigating 
committee of the house brought in its report on February 
4th. 

The governor was accused of having been bribed to call 
the special session of 1869; of having received $7,500 from 
one George Swepson, through the hands of Littlefield, for 
the approval of legislation favorable to a railroad; and of 
having embezzled various sums of money belonging to the 
state.^ A minority report was presented exonerating the 
governor and declaring that the charges against him were 
not substantiated and furthermore could not be substan- 
tiated. The house by a vote of twenty-seven to twenty- 
two adopted the minority report and thus refused to im- 
peach.* This vote of twenty-seven to twenty-two left a 
narrower margin for Reed than had the previous vote of 
forty-three to five. The Democratic members all voted for 
impeachment. 

'Governor's MesiHge, Wallace, op. cit., p. 114. ^ Ibid., p. 116. 

' Wallace, op. cit., pp. 1 18-120. The committee was composed of J. D. 
Green, G. P. ^Raney, Jno. Simpson, H. H. Forward, and a Mr. White. 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 120-124; see full report. The minority con- 
sisted of only one man, White, of Clay Co. An. Cyclo., 1869-70. Be- 
fore adopting Minority Report the House refused to adopt Majority 
Report by a vote of 29 to 21. 



PARTY POLITICS 617 

" The effort to impeach Governor Reed thus failed," 
observes S. S. Cox. 

Its promoters were members of the Republican party. They 
are reported to have expressed the sentiment, in a caucus held 
the next day " to harmonize Republicans and concentrate Re- 
publican effort, that they had been fairly and thoroughly 
whipped " ; that " they accepted the result as a finality and 
as directory of the wishes of their party " ; that " they had 
misunderstood the wishes of the party " ; and they pledged 
themselves to sustain Mr. Reed's administration. If this re- 
port can be relied upon, these penitent impeachers are as base 
as the men whom they charge with having embezzled the 
public money. ^ 

Probably the significance of these impeachment episodes, 
which like the seasons seemed to recur with some regularity, 
was the serious dissension which was exhibited within Re- 
publican ranks. This failure to agree was evident not only 
between governor and legislature. It manifested itself in 
the relationship between governor and cabinet and between 
the legislature and certain of the state judiciary. For in- 
stance, Judge Magbee, of the fourth circuit, was impeached 
on a charge of petty theft and " vindictive and arbitrary " 
use of his judicial power in selecting juries.^ The differ- 
ences between Governor Reed and his comptroller, Major 
Robert Gamble, became so acute that Gamble finally threat- 
ened to resign.^ Several of the Republican members of the 

' Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation, p. 521. 

' An. Cyclo., 1869-70. The vote on impeachment was taken February 
18. It stood 24 to 3. The senate resolved to sit as a court of impeach- 
ment at its next regular session for a trial of the case. 

' House Journal, June 21, 1869. The legislature put the control of 
certain state bonds in Gamble's hands, and not in the Governor's, as 
formerly. The quarrel over the sale of these bonds was one reason 
for disagreement. See Wallace, op. cit., p. 126. 



6i8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

cabinet did likewise. The state legislature voiced the situ- 
ation in resolutions. " We have been painfully convinced," 
ran the house resolutions, " of the want of that agreement 
and co-operation between governor and cabinet which 
should prevail ".^ On February 5th, the day after the 
failure to impeach, occurred the Republican caucus in 
Tallahassee to " harmonize " the party. It was here pro- 
posed that the governor's cabinet or the governor resign. 
Nor did passing months bring peace. A Radical convention 
met in Tallahassee on October 27th following, for the pur- 
pose of " better organizing the Republican party ". It 
passed resolutions deeply deploring " the alienation and 
division in Republican ranks in this state ".^ 

The Radical party was in a precarious condition when 
the campaign of 1870 opened for the election of a lieuten- 
ant-governor, a congressman, and a new legislature. This 
election was to prove the turning-point in the career of the 
Republican party in Florida, and foretold in a fashion what 
was to happen six years later. 

The Republican state convention assembled in Gaines- 
ville on August 17th, 1870. A sharp contest began between 
negro and carpet-bag leaders for control.^ Samuel T. Day, 
a carpet-bagger, was nominated for lieutenant-governor; 
and Charles M. Hamilton, carpet-bagger and ex-Freed- 
men's Bureau agent, was put forward by the whites as a can- 

^ Wallace, o/j. cit., p. 126, resolutions. According to the Const., art. 6, 
the Governor's cabinet consisted of the Sect, of State, Atty.-Gen., 
Comptr., Treas., Surveyor-Gen., Supt. Pub. Instr., Adj. -Gen., and Com- 
mis. of Immigra ion, all appointed by the Governor. 

' An. Cyclo.. 1869-70. The acton of this " convention " probably had 
some effect. On Nov. 28, the Republican state executive committee met 
in Tallahassee to more completely organize the Republican party. A 
circular was issued by the committee calling county mass-meetings. 

'An. Cyclo., 1869-70; Wallace, op. cit., pp. 126-127. 



PARTY POLITICS 619 

didate for re-election to Congress. The blacks opposed 
Hamilton and, hanging together, forced the nomination of 
Josiah T. Walls, one of their own color. The scalawag or 
native white element in this meeting seems to have played 
a passive part. Walls's career was to prove a troubled one. 
He was three times to enter the national House of Repre- 
sentatives and twice to be unseated.^ The nomination of 
Walls was a distinct concession forced from the whites by 
the blacks. Negro leaders from practical experience in 
politics were gaining in aggressiveness and independence. 
This phenomenon accompanied the decline of Republican 
power. As the government became Africanized it became 
weaker. 

On August 31st, the Democrats assembled in convention 
in Tallahassee as " The Reform Conservative Party of 
Florida ".' This name w^as assumed to accommodate those 
Republicans who might be willing to drive the controlling 
party from local power, but who did not care to enlist defi- 
nitely in Democratic ranks even to accomplish this. The 
rising tax-rate and the stories of disreputable proceedings 
in Tallahassee, together with the sentiment for reform 
from abroad, made some of the property-holding Republi- 
cans not unwilling to support political reform.^ 

William D. Bloxham, a Floridian and veteran of the Con- 
federate army, was nominated for lieutenant-governor, and 
Silas Niblack, a one-time " Union man ", for Congress. 

1 The first time, Jan. 29, 1873; the second time, April 19, 1876. See 
cases of Niblack vs. Walls and Finly vs. Walls, H. Misc. Docs., 45. h 
C, 2nd S., No. 52, pp. loi, etc., and 367, etc. 

' An. Cyclo., 1869-70. 

' The Taxpayers' Convention which convened in the summer of 1871, 
several months after the election, indicated that some prominent Re- 
publicans were dissatisfied with the party's record. See testimony of 
Republicans in H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, pp. 208, 214, 213, 
219, 244, 245, etc. 



620 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The platforms of the two parties were substantially the 
same on most points. Both favored state aid to internal 
improvement. Both endorsed the establishment of a good 
system of public schools. The Republicans were in favor 
of " retrenchment and honesty in government ". The 
Democrats wished " an honest and economic state govern- 
ment ". 

The political contest rapidly took shape. Through the 
mists of the years it looms up to-day as a crucial bit of 
Florida's political history. With the election machinery 
completely in the hands of the Republican party ; with post- 
masters, mail agents, county ofifiicials, and most Federal 
court officers attached to the same organization ; with very 
little money to spend; and with a party at his back badly 
beaten three times in two years, Bloxham began to " swing 
round the circle ".^ He was an aristocratic young planter 
who had served in the Confederate army. He was opti- 
mistic, aggressive, active, and efifective as an orator — of 
medium height and erect carriage ; with a high, broad fore- 
head and small, bright eyes and thin, compressed lips. He 
was a thoroughly likable man. When the war ceased he 
established a school on his plantation, where his one-time 
slaves might acquire that new learning which the blacks 
sought so diligently for the first few months of the new 
regime. The negro teacher of this school afterwards be- 
came a prominent Radical politician and the first historian 
of the Reconstruction period in Florida. 

The Democratic leader began the campaign aggressively. 
He was not seeking so much to answer questions as he was 
to ask them. The theme of his many speeches was Repub- 
lican mismanagement of state affairs, bribery, electoral cor- 
ruption and the semi-anarchy which existed in some locali- 

^ See reference to campaign in Wallace, op. cit., p. 127. 



PARTY POLITICS 62 1 

ties because of the conflict between the races. The mount- 
ing tax-rate, the accusations which the Republican legisla- 
ture had brought against the Republican governor, the 
open references of the governor to legislative corruption, the 
actual record of reckless law-making at Tallahassee, — all 
served Bloxham and his lieutenants with telling and very- 
definite illustrations. This political campaign for peace, 
public decency and economy was carried into every county 
of Florida, Bloxham personally visiting almost every 
county in the state. Some people were affected, probably, 
by reasonable exhortations, but the mass of Republican 
voters were impervious to such methods. However, the 
work of Democratic clubs and Conservative regulators 
both in organizing the Conservative vote and in ruthlessly 
suppressing the negroes with halter, shot-gun and whip, 
conspired to gather strength unto the Democratic cause. 
The Republican party was active, but factional fighting 
continued.^ 

On November 8th, 1870, occurred the election. The 
whites in many localities deliberately prepared to deter by 
force the negroes from voting. The negroes, on the other 
hand, in some parts of the state, came to the polls in an 
unpleasantly bellicose attitude, prepared, according to the 
words of one of their own color, to continue " the war 
with the ballot and with the tongue ".^ Inevitably this 
led to the disgraceful continuation of the war with halter 
and shotgun. When distances were great, crowds of ne- 
groes under leaders came to the polling places a day in ad- 
vance and camped out like soldiers on the march. In Co- 
lumbia, Jefferson, Gadsden, and Jackson Counties violence 
played a more or less important part in the election. 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 128-131 ; An. Cyclo., 1869-70. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C. 2nd S.. no. 22, v. 13, p. 103, words of Robert 
Meacham. 



622 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

" We had quite a sharp poHtical canvass, and there was 
a great deal of bitter feehng one way or the other," said a 
white Repubhcan candidate of Columbia County. On the 
night before the election, the blacks formed in procession 
and boisterously marched through the streets of Lake City. 
A collision was provoked with the whites, who " ran oiff 
quite a number of the colored men ". The candidate in 
question continued : '* When I made my appearance in the 
public square the next morning I was surrounded by almost 
lOO men, mostly armed with pistols; I saw but few guns. 
They claimed that I was the cause of the riot that was got 
up the night preceding, and they threatened me and said 
that I had better go into my house and stay there." The 
result of the election in this county, which had previously 
gone Republican, was a slight majority for the Democrats. 

At Monticello in Jefferson County the negroes attempted 
to " crowd in " upon one of the three polling places. 
" Angry words ensued, and in about ten minutes," testified 
a negro participant, 

the voting places were closed on account of the excitement. 
Then you could see any number of white men coming up with 
arms. I suppose in about ten or fifteen minutes there were 
about i,ooo colored men on the ground with arms, but not near 
so many whites. I suppose there were nearly i,ooo shots fired 
ofif in the air, but no one was hurt. When the voting was 
over and the polls were closed, about 500 people went home 
that night without having had a chance to vote.^ 

At Quincy, in Gadsden County, a riot was narrowly 
averted. " There was considerable disturbance at the pre- 
cinct in Quincy," said M. L. Stearns a year later. " On the 
morning of the election, before daylight, several persons 
came to my house and said that the Democrats were coming 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 103. 



PARTY POLITICS 62;^ 

into town armed. I got up. dressed myself, and went down 
town and found that quite a large number had come there 
with arms and had deposited them in different stores around 
the court-house square." Late in the afternoon the negroes 
attempted to crowd in on a polling place reserved for 
whites. The sheriff' attempted to clear the polls. " Some 
one struck hi n over the head with a cane," stated Stearns. 

Then a general row began. I must say that it is almost a 
mystery to me how it was stopped without bloodshed. It was 
a fearful sight. The tumult lasted two hours. The result was 
that about two or three hundred were standing in line with 
tickets in their hands when the polls closed, and our Repub- 
lican majority in that county was reduced from 400 to 16.^ 

In Jackson County several personal collisions occurred 
at the polls, harsh language was used, and it was claimed 
that a few Radical voters were frightened away.* In Duval 
County, the ballot-box of the Yellow Bluff precinct was un- 
lawfully seized by Republicans, the returns altered in their 
favor and the result sent in to headquarters. Thus amid 
rough practice and an exhibition of brute force did the 
elections of 1870 pass. 

The first announced results were a surprise. The Demo- 
cratic journals claimed confidently a victory for the Con- 
servative party. Most of the new state senators and an 
increased proportion of the house were Democratic. The 
final pronouncement on the vote for lieutenant-governor 
and congressmen lay with the state canvassing board at 
Tallahassee. This board was composed of three of the 
cabinet of the governor: namely, the secretary of state, 

' H. Rpfs., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 76, 2^5. 

* FI. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 2nd S., no. 52, p. 106, case of Niblack vs. 
Walls. 



624 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

the attorney-general, and the comptroller.^ Was the de- 
cline in Republican power to evidence itself by defeat in a 
general election? The question was clear and the issue 
one of more than ordinary interest to the people of Flor- 
ida. The decision in a close and troubled election lay with 
a Republican board. ^ 

The election occurred on the 8th of November. By law 
the board was to meet in Tallahassee to canvass the votes 
on the 29th of November. ' It has been stated by a Repub- 
lican politician, active at the time, that his party leaders — 
probably meaning Purman, Conant, Stearns, Dennis, Mob- 
ley, Billings, and Gleason — hearing the news of how the 
election had resulted, promptly sent into the Democratic 
counties messengers to instruct the local election officers, 
who were Republicans, to keep the ballot-boxes until after 
the canvassing board had met in Tallahassee and ad- 
journed.^ If this be true, it is not improbable that these 
same officers were instructed to alter the returns if possible, 
or to render them sufficiently irregular in character to give 
the canvassing board a technical legal basis for throwing 
them out. But this is a supposition. How well these sup- 
posed instructions might have been followed, events were 
soon to suggest. 

Two of the three members of the state canvassing board 
were Republicans. The third member was Robert Gamble, 
the comptroller, a native Southerner and veteran of the 
Confederate army. Gamble and his political friends sur- 
mised sadly what would probably happen when the door 

' Fla. Rpts., V. 13, p. 56, State ex rel. Bloxham vs. Bd. State Can- 
vassers. See letter of R. B. Hilton to Geo. Couch, Oct. 12, 1876, Wal- 
lace, op. cit., p. 437. 

* Wallace, ibid., p. 437, — Hilton's letter, Oct. 12, 1876. 

* Fla. Rpts., V. 13, State ex rel. Bloxham vs. State Board Canvassers. 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 133-134. 



PARTY POLITICS 625 

of the secretary of state's office closed on the canvassing 
board on November 29th. Gamble would be out-voted by 
the other two members on every doubtful question. He had 
reason to believe that neither of his two associates had 
serious compunctions about receiving forged election re- 
turns if they were forged to favor their side. 

With Charles E. Dyke, editor of the Floridian, Gamble 
prepared to hold up the action of the board. Dyke was a 
crafty, canny politician. As a political leader and a maker 
of public opinion he had seen Florida pass through the 
turmoil of secession, the tragedy of war, and into the dis- 
graceful intrigues of Reconstruction. With each change 
Dyke, a Southerner, had been on the losing side. Yet he 
managed somehow to keep his optimistic suppleness of 
mind through it all. 

On November 29th, the door closed on the Canvassing 
Board in session.^ Outside " at the key-hole " was Dyke. 
Inside the three cabinet members — two white men and a 
negro — watching each other narrowly, settled down to the 
preliminary work of counting the electoral returns for lieu- 
tenant-governor and congressmen. Nine counties, con- 
sidered Democratic, had not been heard from. Attorney- 
General Meek and the negro secretary, Gibbs, decided to 
proceed with the count on the next day without these re- 
turns.^ Gamble hurriedly wrote a note to this effect, and 
slipped it, unseen by his associates inside, beneath the door 
to Dyke outside.^ 

^ Fla. Rpts., V. 13, State ex rel. Bloxham vs. Bd. State Canvassers, 
p. S8. 
2 Ibid., p. 58. 

' Wallace, op. cit., pp. 135-136. This account by Wallace seems to be 
the only authority for the key-hole incident of Dyke and Gamble. Ex- 
Governor Bloxham told me that he aided Wallace in the compilation 
of his work. He knev;^ intimately both Dyke and Gamble and it is 
probable that he suggested including the incident in the account. 



626 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

One reasonable course of action for Democrats was 
open: namely, an appeal to the courts for an injunction to 
restrain the board from proceeding with the count. Dyke 
set out at once to obtain this legal aid. The nearest circuit 
judge was P. W. White, in Quincy, thirty miles away. 
Evidently Judge White had been warned by Dyke and 
Gamble of what would happen. It was afternoon when 
Gamble slipped the note under the door. The judge was 
reached before morning and the injunction procured. The 
next day, November 30th, it was served on the canvassing 
board. ^ They were forbidden by the court to proceed 
with the count until all the returns were in. The board, 
respecting the court's orders, adjourned until the 26th of 
December. 

The Radical outlook for the moment was distinctly 
gloomy. The tactics of Gamble and Dyke had proven suc- 
cessful in checking the board, but their opponents pro- 
ceeded to dissolve the injunction — and their methods were 
novel. The Republican machine fairly controlled the Fed- 
eral judiciary in Florida. Republican leaders quickly de- 
termined to have recourse to this arm of the Federal gov- 
ernment to crush the state's injunction issued by Judge 
White. " Party leaders, bold and unscrupulous in their re- 
sources to prevent a breach in their official stronghold." 
states Mr. Rerick, " perpetrated the outrage of procuring 
the arrest of Judge White by process of the Federal Court 
upon the charge of violating the Federal election laws." ^ 
The statute supposed to have been violated by the injunc- 
tion was the Federal Enforcement Act of May 31st, 1870. 
Under the humiliating escort of a United States deputy 
marshal the judge was carried to Jacksonville. The Re- 

' Fla. Rpts., V. 13, State ex rel. Bloxham vs. Bd. State Canvassers. 
P- 59- 
* Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. i, p. 320. 



PARTY POLITICS 627 

publican majority of the state canvassing board now con- 
sidered the injunction dissolved, and forthwith proceeded 
" in contempt of the injunction ", said Conservatives, to 
count votes. The place of Attorney-General Meek on the 
board had been taken by Sherman Conant, a carpet-bag 
Federal deputy marshal. Conant and the negro Gibbs, 
needing privacy to carry their point, " withdrew from 
Gamble (the Conservative) and behind the doors of the 
secretary of state's office," made the canvass.^ They de- 
clared Day and Walls elected respectively lieutenant-gov- 
ernor and congressman — each by a majority of a little more 
than 600.^ 

The returns from the nine Democratic counties in ques- 
tion were not counted.^ The board succeeded therefore in 
its " purpose of counting in the Republican candidates," 
concludes Mr. Rerick. " Thereupon the prosecution of 
Judge White was abandoned." * Judged by the later find- 
ings of the state supreme court, and of a committee of the 
national House of Representatives, the decision of the 
canvassing board was in defiance of honesty and law. The 
arrest of Judge White was a weird travesty of justice. 

* Fla. Rpts., V. 13, State ex rel. Bloxham vs. Bd. State Canvassers, 
pp. 59-61. Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, p. 440, letter of R. B, Hilton to 
Geo. Couch, Oct. 12, 1876. 

' An. Cycle, 1869-70. Fla. Rpts., v. 13, State ex rel. Bloxham vs. 
Bd. State Canvassers. According to this decision of the Board the 
votes were: for lieut.-governor, Republican 12,446, Democratic 11,832; 
for Congress, Republican 12,439, Democratic 11,810. See Wallace, op. 
cit., p. 138. 

* Refused to count votes from Brevard, Columbia, Dade, Lafayette, 
Manatee, Monroe, Sumter, Suwanee, and Taylor counties. Gamble 
refused to sign the electoral certificate of the board, claiming that it 
was obtained by fraud. 

* Rerick, op. cit., v. i, p. 320 ; Wallace, op. cit., p. 136. I personally 
discussed this incident in 1907 with Judge White who issued the in- 
junction. He was judge of the 2nd Circuit. Judge White was kept 
under bond until the " fraudulent count " had been perpetrated. 



628 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Bloxham, the defeated Democratic candidate, called upon 
the state courts for help. Through attorneys he applied 
to the supreme court for a writ of mandamus to compel the 
board to make a recount of the votes. He presented an 
elaborate and strong case. He claimed that in the nine 
counties whose votes were thrown out 1,630 Democratic 
votes were cast and 952 Republican, giving him, Bloxham, 
a majority of 678. The total vote of the state for Blox- 
ham, including these counties, would be 13,462; for Day, 
Republican, 13,398 — a Democratic majority of 64.^ The 
Democratic estimate of the votes for congressmen was 137 
majority for Niblack, Democrat. 

The supreme court found a technical defect in Blox- 
ham's petition, and this necessitated three or four days' 
delay before resuming the case.^ The Democratic case was 
well presented and the court was an honest one. The Re- 
publican outlook was again clouded. But during this in- 
terval of three or four days' delay the legislature inter- 
vened. A bill was quietly hurried through abolishing the 
state canvassing board.^ This was indeed sharp practice, 
but it enacted law, and the supreme court threw the case 
out because no action could be continued against a can- 
vassing board which did not exist.* Day became lieuten- 

^ Fla. Rpts., V. 13, State of Fla. ex rel. Bloxham vs. Bd. State Can- 
vassers. H. Rpts., 42nd C., 2nd S., No. 22, v. 13, p. 300. Judge Sam. J. 
Douglas was one of the two attorneys representing Bloxham. He 
said of the Canvassing Board : " They refused those nine counties on 
two grounds; one was that some of the returns were informal, another 
was that the returns had not been received in time. I was employed, 
together with other counsel, to apply for a mandamus to the Supreme 
Court of the State, to compel the Board of Canvassers to canvass 
those counties." 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 438 — Hilton's letter. 

'Fla. Rpts., V. 13, p. 76; Wallace, op. cit., p. 438; H. Rpts., 42nd C, 
2nd S., No. 22, V. 13, p. 300. 

* Fla. Rpts., V. 13, p. 77. 



PARTY POLITICS 629 

ant-governor and Walls went to Congress. The Democrats 
were beaten. 

The state senate and house, constitutionally exercising 
the power of judgment on the electoral credentials of those 
seeking admission to them, refused to admit the senators 
and representatives from the irregular counties in ques- 
tion. These counties, it will be remembered, had gone 
Democratic. In the new senate were eleven Republicans 
and ten Democrats ; in the house, twenty-three Republicans 
and twenty Democrats.^ 

The election of 1870 clearly marks the beginning of Re- 
publican decline in Florida. Most elections at the polls 
had been carried by the Democrats. To accomplish 
their purpose they had resorted in some places to violence 
or an exhibition of violent intent to deter Republican voters, 
who were mostly negroes. But Republicans had been belli- 
cose. Crowds of negroes had come to the polls armed, had 
paraded the streets of towns, and had dared opposition by 
the whites. A heavy vote was cast — more than 2,000 in 
advance of the state vote in 1868 and about 10,000 in ad- 
vance of the congressional vote of 1869. The Republican 
vote was about 1,000 less than in 1868, while the Demo- 
cratic vote had advanced about 6,000. The party in power, 
by skillful and unscrupulous use of the election officials, the 
courts, the canvassing board, and the legislature had man- 
aged to keep its grip on things. 

This was by no means the end of the dreary and hope- 
less muddle into which public affairs in Florida had fallen. 
Bloxham continued his efforts before the supreme court to 
obtain the position of lieutenant-governor, and — strange 
impasse within a party ! — Lieutenant-Governor Weeks, 
holding his commission from Reed, refused to quit his 
place for the new lieutenant-governor-elect, Day. The 

^ An. Cyclo., 1869-70. 



630 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



senate recognized Day. It had expelled Weeks/ The 
supreme court, however, pronounced Weeks's position as 
president pro tern of the senate valid. ^ Rumors were al- 
ready afloat of another impeachment contest with the gov- 
ernor. Here we have an insight into the depth of the in- 
tricate discord among Republicans. Negroes, carpet-bag- 
gers, and scalawags could not agree. Lines of sectional and 
race prejudice cut deeper than some men had estimated. If 
Radicals could have worked in harmony the South would 
have been longer under Republican rule. 

The result of the election of 1870 indicated how narrow 
was the margin of votes by which the Republicans controlled 
Florida. Conservative and Radical power in the legislature 
was approaching a balance. Realization of the absolute 
need of harmony and party discipline affords a partial ex- 
planation of the demands made upon Governor Reed early 
in 1872. He was repeatedly asked to reform his cabinet and 
certain important groups of county officials in conformity 
with the desires of various party leaders. Under Florida's 
constitution the governor appointed all county officials ex- 
cept constables. Senator Osborn demanded changes. L. G. 
Dennis, boss of Alachua County, who during the troubled 
years to come was to appear prominently, asked for the 
removal of officials in his county and the appointment of 
others at his dictation. W. J. Purman made the same re- 
quest for Jackson County.^ None of these three men was 
friendly with Governor Reed, and Reed was not pliant to 

^ An. Cyclo., 1869-70. A motion was first offered in the Senate that 
the " Sergeant-at-arms be instructed to arrest Mr. E. C. Weeks and 
keep him under arrest till released by the Senate." Two negro sena- 
tors remonstrated against this as " indecent," and a substitute, more 
mild, was adopted. 

'^Wallace, op. cit., p. 118. 

' Wallace, op. cit., pp. 141-142. 



PARTY POLITICS 63 1 

their wishes. He considered himself the party leader. He 
was certainly the head of a strong faction. Neither the 
governor nor his enemies seemed willing to make a com- 
promise. Thus any attempts at harmonious reformation 
but led toward a repetition of increased discord and more 
efforts to get rid of Reed. Soon after the legislature met 
in January, 1872, the impeachment farce began again. ^ 

The Democratic members of the legislature willingly 
joined with the Republicans in the assault on the executive. 
The proceedings of the impeachers by this time are so 
" darkly hidden " that melodrama is suggested. Resolu- 
tions of impeachment were hurried through at one night 
session after the sergeant-at-arms had been sent out into 
the town and had forcibly brought in some absent mem- 
bers.^ The next day Reed was informed of what had 
happened, and on February loth, the house formally pre- 
sented to the senate resolutions of impeachment.^ 

The charges against Reed were contained in sixteen 
formal articles. The substance of these articles was about 
as follows : that the governor had, without authority of 
law, issued various amounts of state bonds — $528,000 on 
one occasion, $1,000,000 on another; that he had put his 
signature to a bill for the issue of $4,000,000 of bonds to 
a railroad, knowing the fraudulent character of the trans- 
action ; that he had embezzled various sums from the state ; 
that he had been bribed to favor the passage of certain 
legislation ; and that he had sought on one occasion to cor- 
ruptly influence a justice.* These charges were specific 
and definite enough, but the trial did not develop any sub- 
stantial proof of the allegations. 

Mm. Cyclo., 1872-73. 

' Wallace, op. cit., pp. 142-143. 

^ An. Cyclo., 1872-73. 

* Formal articles, Wallace, op. cit., pp. 160-171. 



632 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

That the governor had been careless in handling state 
funds; that he had favored state aid to enterprises which 
were found to be dominated by scoundrels ; and that he was 
very friendly with some of these scoundrels; this is about 
as far as closely substantiated judgment can go. " The 
most singular aspect of this whole impeachment scheme," 
says a defender of the governor, " was that while the in- 
vestigating committee could find sufficient witnesses in 
Florida upon whose evidence to base thirteen articles of 
impeachment, the board of managers could not find wit- 
nesses in the state to prove one of these charges." ^ 

The senate convened as a high court for the trial of the 
accused executive on February loth. Governor Reed re- 
quested that the trial proceed, but the impeachment man- 
agers refrained from pressing their case and the high court 
and the legislature adjourned sine die^ What was the 
object of this strange procedure? The case had not been 
dismissed. No judgment had been pronounced. The state 
constitution contained the explicit provision that " any offi- 
cer when impeached by the assembly shall be deemed under 
arrest and shall be disqualified from performing any duties 
of his office until acquittal by the Senate." ^ 

The impeachment of Governor Reed, therefore, by the 
house, legally suspended him from office. But why did the 
the senate and the managers put off indefinitely his trial? 
If we believe that those who impeached him, and a ma- 
jority of those who would try him, wished to get rid of 
him, only one reasonable conclusion concerning the senate's 
adjournment sine die remains. The senate mistrusted its 
ability to convict the governor without doing great injury 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 171. 

* Ibid., pp. 177-180. 

3 Const, of 1868 in H. Docs., 59th C, 2nd S., no. 357, v. 2. 



PARTY POLITICS 633 

to itself and believed that his suspension from office because 
of his impeachment could be extended to the fast approach- 
ing end of his term as governor. Thus Reed might be dis- 
posed of without being expelled. But who was now gov- 
ernor of Florida? The state constitution provided that " in 
case of the impeachment of the governor or his removal 
from office, death, inability to discharge his duties, or 
resignation, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve 
upon the lieutenant-governor for the residue of the term or 
until the disability shall cease." ^ Lieutenant-Governor 
Day, who was president pro tern of the senate, was strongly 
identified with the faction of the local Republican party 
opposed to Reed. With Reed impeached and therefore 
suspended, Day became ipso facto acting governor. 

Another factor entered into the situation. The state 
supreme court was believed at the time to be about to render 
a decision which would give to William D. Bloxham, the 
Democratic candidate of more than twelve months before, 
the lieutenant-governorship. He claimed to have been duly 
elected and had instituted proceedings before the supreme 
court to gain possession of the office. If Reed were driven 
from office by the impeachment of a Republican legislature 
and Day driven from office by a Republican supreme court, 
a Democrat. Bloxham, might become governor of Florida, 
because constitutionally the " powers and duties " of the 
governor devolved upon the lieutenant-governor in case of 
impeachment. If Bloxham should become acting governor 
in place of Reed, expelled, it is highly probable that he 
would appoint a Democratic lieutenant-governor because 
the office of lieutenant-governor would be vacant, and the 
state constitution stipulated that " when any office for any 
cause shall become vacant the governor shall have the 

^ Art. 6, sec. 15. 



634 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

power to fill such vacancy." ^ This would mean that Re- 
publican control of the senate would be lost, for at the time 
the Republicans controlled it by only one vote. The lieu- 
tenant-governor had the casting vote in the case of a tie. 
With the chief executive a Conservative and the senate 
dominated by Conservatives the whole superstructure of 
local Republican government would be changed. Most 
state administrative offices, all judicial offices, and all 
county offices except constable were filled by the governor 
and the senate. Therefore thoughtful Republicans had 
reason to make haste slowly in expelling Reed. For them, 
he would be preferable to a Democrat. 

Soon after his impeachment by the house, Reed quit the 
executive offices at Tallahassee, considering himself duly 
suspended from office because he was constitutionally " dis- 
qualified from performing any duties of his office ". He 
repaired to his farm near Jacksonville. When, however, 
the legislature adjourned sitie die without bringing him to 
trial he saw fit to construe its action as equivalent to ac- 
quittal. He watched for a chance to emphasize this con- 
clusion. It soon came. Acting-Governor Day went to 
Jacksonville to attend a party caucus and Reed thereupon 
went to Tallahassee, entered the executive offices, issued a 
proclamation declaring himself to be governor of Florida, 
appointed a new attorney-general and a circuit judge, and 
then returned quietly to his home in Jacksonville to await 
results. Gibbs, the negro secretary of state, who had 
played a fraudulent part in counting in Day against Blox- 
ham, approved with the stamp of the great seal of the 
commonwealth the proclamation of Reed. The document 
stated that Acting-Governor Day was " making removals 
from office and appointments thereto without authority " 

* Art. 6, sec. 7. 



PARTY POLITICS 635 

and that it was necessary to intervene " to the end that the 
rights of the people, in the proper exercise of lawful au- 
thority shall be maintained, that the property of the state 
shall be preserved, that the imposition and collection of 
oppressive taxes without authority of law shall be stopped, 
that the free and equal exercise of political rights, in the 
election soon to occur, shall be had." ^ Two days later, 
April loth. Reed proposed to Day that they both turn to 
the supreme court for a decision as to who was governor of 
Florida. Day paid no attention to the proposal, where- 
upon Reed requested an opinion of the supreme court. 
That tribunal responded on April 29th that Lieutenant- 
Governor Day was "neither de jure nor de facto governor 
of Florida. He is in no sense governor. He is lieutenant- 
governor exercising the functions of the office of gover- 
nor. You are still de jure governor." ^ 

Meantime, April 22nd, Day, who declared Reed's action 
" attempted usurpation in total disregard of law and good 
government and revolutionary in its tendencies," called an 
extra session of the legislature, probably expecting to push 
the trial and finally drive Reed from office. The Demo- 
crats were eager that the trial proceed because its result 
might mean the governorship for Bloxham. The Repub- 
lican managers opposed the re-opening of the trial. Mr. 
Samuel Pasco, Democrat, states that the two Republican 
factions headed respectively by Reed and Day put aside 
their differences. " Terms were made with Reed," he 
says.^ 

On May 2nd, the senate again sat as a high court of im- 
peachment with Chief Justice Randall in the chair. Five 

^An. Cyclo., 1872-3 ; Wallace, op. cit., p. 183. 

' An. Cyclo., 1872-3. 

3 Herbert, Why the Solid South? p. 159. 



636 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

out of six of the prosecuting attorneys were Democrats 
prominently opposed to the Radical party/ There was 
grotesque irony for some present on that occasion in the 
call of the sergeant-at-arms. "Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear 
ye!" he thundered out when the last senator had been 
sworn in and the court stood convened. " All persons are 
ordered to keep silence under penalty of imprisonment 
while the Senate of Florida is sitting for the trial of Har- 
rison Reed, Governor of Florida, for high crimes and 
misdemeanors. God save the State of Florida and this 
honorable Senate." Certainly there was need of some in- 
terposition, not political, for this pending trial was a politi- 
cal and not a judicial proceeding. 

The trial did not materialize. On May 4th, the senate 
chamber was crowded by those awaiting the decision of the 
court. The counsel for Reed presented a motion that the 
accused governor be " discharged from arrest " and that 
the indictments against him be dismissed. The senate 
passed the motion by a vote of ten to seven. " Men could 
be seen in every direction running and shouting at the top 
of their voices," states Wallace. 

Day, now filled with anguish, was pacing back and forth, first 
to the door of the executive chamber and peeping out for his 
messenger, and then back into his office. When the messenger 
came running with the dreadful intelligence, which was the 
end of his career as governor, so anxious was he to know the 
result that he did not wait his arrival but ran to meet him 
and asked: "How is it?" "Reed's discharged." He turned 
his back on the messenger and wept.^ 

• The Democratic attorneys were: ex-Gov. Walker, M. A. Peeler (who 
had helped frame the Black Code), Geo. P. Raney (of the Dem. minor- 
ity in the legislature), T. W. Brevard (a veteran of the Confederate 
Army), and Boiling Baker (one-time member of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment). 

* Op. cit., pp. 209-10. 



PARTY POLITICS 637 

The hurrahing which accompanied the announcement of 
the vote marked the end of a contest between governor and 
legislature which had been stretched over four years and 
which by 1872 had lost enough of its novelty to become 
tiresome. 

The contest which had just ended, occurred on the eve 
of the campaign of 1872. The situation was very similar 
to that in 1870. From a Democratic standpoint the open- 
ing was full of encouragement. The Republican party was 
racked by continued strife among its leaders. The legis- 
lature was nearly balanced between Radical and Conserva- 
tive. The last election had witnessed a heavy falling-off 
of Republican strength. The Liberal Republican move- 
ment, which in national affairs was so promising at first, 
touched Florida affairs here and there. 

The " Conservative State Central Committee," in ap- 
pointing delegates to the Democratic national convention 
at Baltimore, instructed them to favor "a Liberal Republican 
nominee ".^ On August 14th, 1872, the Democratic state 
convention met in Jacksonville. Amid very little exhibi- 
tion of conflict or of asperity of feeling Bloxham was nomi- 
nated for governor; Robert W. Bullock, for lieutenant- 
governor; and Silas Niblack and Charles M. Jones, for con- 
gress.^ The convention endorsed the " Cincinnati " or Lib- 
eral Republican platform and the " National Democratic 
Ticket ". which was the Liberal Republican ticket.^ A 
" Liberal Republican Convention " convened in Jackson- 
ville and endorsed the Democratic state ticket.* Was there 
to be in Florida a happy fusion of Democrats and discon- 

' An. Cycle, 1872-3. 

* Floridian, Aug. 20, 1872. The convention was in session three days, 
adjourning, Aug. 16. 

' An. Cyclo., 1872-3. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 216. 



638 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tented Republicans? The thought was no doubt pleasing 
to certain optimistic Democrats. 

The Republican state convention had met on Augusi 
7th, at Tallahassee. Memories of riotous 1868 were re- 
vived. A big crowd congregated in the town. Fairly- 
good order prevailed on the streets, but this was not true 
of the assembly hall in the capitol building where the con- 
vention was in session. Seven different individuals were 
competing for the governorship. The most prominent were 
Reed, Stearns, and Hart. The first ballot indicated that 
Stearns, carpet-bagger, had the greater number of white 
supporters.^ Reed had lost that leadership of the Repub- 
licans which back in the years 1867 and 1868 he had been 
reputed to have. 

Most of the negroes supported Justice Hart of the Su- 
preme Court. Hart was a Southern Republican or *' scal- 
awag ". On the second ballot Stearns was nominated by a 
small majority. " The scene which followed beggars de- 
scription," chronicled the Floridian. 

Many of the Hart men, mostly colored, became frantic. They 
rushed about the room, mounted desks, chairs, etc., yelled, 
bawled, and swore that they would not submit to any such 
nomination. Persons on the street thought that the conven- 
tion had broken up in a general row and expected any minute 
to see the delegates come tumbling out into the streets.^ 

' Floridian, Aug. 13, 1872. There was considerable wrangling over 
the credentials of delegates. The regular business was carried on 
behind closed doors. The contest for the two nominations to Con- 
gress was closely contested by negroes, who obtained one place (Walls). 
The negro Methodist Church was opposed to certain carpet-bag lead- 
ers, particularly Purman and Gleason, because of the part they had 
taken in expelling the negro Bishop Pearce from the legislature. See 
resolutions of A. M. E. Church, Hamilton Co., Floridian, Aug. 20, 1872. 

' Floridian, Aug. 13, 1872. 



PARTY POLITICS 639 

The nominee tried to speak. His voice was drowned by 
the howls of the delegates. When order was partly re- 
stored, Stearns announced that he withdrew in favor of 
Judge Hart. He thereupon received second place on the 
ticket. Thus did the negroes play an important role in 
dictating party nominations.^ Josiah T. Walls, negro, and 
W. J. Purman, carpet-bagger, were nominated for Con- 
gress. The platforms of the two parties were rather color- 
less and much alike. The issue as seen by the average 
Conservative can be deduced from the headlines of the 
leading Conservative journal — " H you want an honest 
state government vote for Bloxham to-day." ^ There was 
nothing strikingly original in this. 

As the autumn approached the Democratic outlook in 
Florida failed to brighten. It took on the pale gloom of 
the Conservative cause in the nation at large. Yet the local 
campaign was hard fought and somewhat bitter in regard 
to the race question.^ Strenuous speeches were made by 
Democratic stumpers, but the operation of the Federal En- 
forcement Act through the Federal courts had a subduing 
effect upon Democratic regulators. The whip, halter, and 
shot-gun were less in evidence and the influence, therefore, 
of the Conservative campaign thunder upon the black was 
less. The " liberal " element in the Republican party for 
Florida amounted practically to nothing. 

The result at the polls on November 5th, 1872, showed 
that the heaviest vote in the history of Florida had been 
cast but that the Democratic state ticket had been defeated 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 214-215. Wallace infers that Stearns and his 
friends arranged in advance this method of securing second place for 
Stearns. 

* Floridian, Nov. 5, 1872. 

'See Floridian, Aug. 6, 13, 20, Sept. 10, Oct. i, 15, 1872; Wallace, 
op. cit., p. 216. 



640 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



by 1,599 votes, and the national ticket by more than 2,(X)0. 
Grant and Wilson received 17,763 votes; Greeley and 
Brown, 15,427. Purman and Walls, Republican candi- 
dates for Congress, each received a majority of more than 
1,700. The Republican ticket, state and national, there- 
fore prevailed decidedly.^ 

The general character of proceedings at the polls was 
very like that in 1870. To keep order squads of Federal 
troops were distributed over the state on the day of election 
— a colonel and thirty-six men at Jacksonville; a major and 
twenty men at Marianna; a major and twenty men at Tal- 
lahassee; a lieutenant and twelve men at Lake City; a lieu- 
tenant and twelve men at Ouincy; and smaller squads of 
men at other points.^ These Federal soldiers were the 
auxiliaries of the Republican party, and were appreciable 
factors in winning the election. 

" Federal arrests " played some part in carrying the 
polls. United States Senator Osborn and United States 
Marshal Conant, upon hearing that the boards of can- 
vassers for Alachua and Marion Counties were considering 
throwing out several precincts for gross irregularity in the 
voting, telegraphed Dennis and Le Cain, Republican bosses 
for these localities, to arrest the canvassers who would not 
" go with them " in an illegal canvass. The board of Ala- 
chua County consisted of William Birney, county judge ; H. 
S. Harmon, county clerk; and R. W. Roberts, justice of 
the peace — all Republicans. The returns from two pre- 

' Floridian, Dec. 17, 1872, for formal returns by counties. The Re- 
publican presidential electors were Knight, Stewart, Tannerhill, and 
Montgomery. Each received more than 17,700 votes. The Democratic 
candidates for electors were Call, McLeod, Davidson, and Allan, each 
receiving over 15,400 votes. Hart and the victorious 'Republican ticket 
carried only 12 of the 39 counties. 

^ Floridian, Nov. 5, 1872. 



PARTY POLITICS 64I 

cincts, favorable to Republicans but forged, were thrown 
out by this board. Thereupon Judge Birney was arrested 
by Deputy United States Marshal Childs upon warrant 
issued upon affidavit of L. G. Dennis, charging Birney with 
violation of the Federal Enforcement Act. He was carried 
to Jacksonville under arrest. Roberts and Harmon were 
threatened with violence by Dennis's " Liberty Hill Gang " 
of negro toughs if they should fail to count the fraudulent 
votes.^ 

The foregoing is a sample of what went on. Conser- 
vatives resorted to threats of lawless violence to keep ne- 
groes from the polls. Radicals resorted to chicanery and 
the violent execution of Federal law, to make elections turn 
out the way they wished. 

The composition of the new state legislature showed a 
slight development in favor of the party in power. In the 
house were now twenty-nine Republicans and twenty-three 
Democrats ; in the senate, thirteen Republicans and eleven 
Democrats." The Democratic members were white. About 
half of the Republicans were black. 

During the next four years only slight changes took 
place in the political situation. The Radical party con- 
tinued to control the state government with a power in 
votes slightly on the decrease. The general movement of 
politics was again toward such a balance as existed in 1870. 

The congressional and legislative elections of 1874 
showed a Democratic gain.' W. J. Purman, Republican, 
was elected to Congress over John A. Henderson, Demo- 
crat, in the First District. The votes cast stood 10,045 to 

' Jacksonville Republican, Nov. 16, 1872 ; Floridian, Nov. ig, 1872. 

* An. Cyclo., 1872-3. 

^Floridian, July 21, Aug. 11, 18, Sept. 22, 1874, for preliminaries of 
party organization in this election. 



642 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

g,277- In the Second District, comprising the more east- 
ern counties and less of the Black Belt, Josiah T. Walls, 
negro, was returned over J. J. Finley, a veteran Brigadier- 
General of the Confederate army. The finding of the 
state returning board was 8,549 votes for Walls and 8,178 
for Finley/ The contest in this district was accompanied 
by sharp and lawless practice on the part of the Repub- 
lican election officials — particularly in Columbia and Ala- 
chua Counties. In Alachua County a negro deputy Federal 
marshal, " Colonel " Saunders, acted in a strangely ob- 
streperous manner. He threatened with arrest election offi- 
cials and some would-be Democratic voters. They fled 
from the polls without casting their ballots, fearing appre- 
hension by the United States government, which Saunders 
personified.^ 

In Columbia County the polls of an important precinct 
were opened by irresponsible persons, who were Repub- 
licans, one hour before the announced time and before the 
arrival of the regular election officials. It was claimed by 
Democrats that during this hour a safe number of illegal 
ballots for Walls, Republican, was dropped into the ballot- 
box.^ Finley claimed that fraud had been perpetrated in 
sixteen precincts of his district. He presented his case to 
Congress and twenty-three months after the election a com- 
mittee. Democratic in majority, made a recount of five pre- 
cincts, reversed the findings of the state canvassing board, 

* An. Cyclo., 1873-4. 

' H. Misc. Docs., 4Sth C, 2nd S., no. 52 (contested election case, 
Finley vs. Walls), p. 377. It was claimed also that "a large and ex- 
cited crowd (negroes) armed with clubs, etc. . . . surrounded said 
poll and so boisterously and violently demeanored themselves that a 
number of my supporters (Democrats) left without voting." 

* H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 2nd S., no. 52, pp. 382-388. 



PARTY POLITICS 643 

and awarded Finley, Democrat, the seat by a majority of 
343 votes/ 

The Florida legislature after the election of 1874 was 
very near a balance between Radical and Conservative. In 
the senate, Democrats and Republicans were equal, twelve 
each. In the house were twenty-eight Republicans and 
twenty-five Democrats." Thus politics in Florida was sub- 
stantially in accord with that change in public opinion, the 
nation over, which has been aptly termed the " Demo- 
cratic Tidal-wave of '74".^ Republican strength was pretty 
well restricted to the plantation counties with large negro 
population. Purman, in the First Congressional District 
of twenty-two counties, carried in 1874 only four 
counties, but was elected because of heavy negro ma- 
jorities. Walls carried only four of the seventeen counties 
making up the Second District. Thirty out of thirty-nine 
counties of the state in 1874 were represented in the lower 
house of the legislature by Democrats.* 

The last four years of Republican rule in Florida de- 
veloped greater harmony between executive and legisla- 
ture. Impeachment was a thing of the past. But these 
years witnessed a decline in harmonious actions of negro 
and white politicians, and increase in the Southern white 
man's ability to keep the black from voting. The basis of 
Radical power was negro votes. Radical power was there- 
fore declining. The election of United States senators by 
the state assembly indicated the direction of the local politi- 

^ H. Mis\:. Docs., 45th C, 2nd S., no. 52, pp. 367-390. Finley was 
sworn on April 19, 1876. 

* Floridian, Dec. 15, 1874; An. Cycle, 1873-4. 

* See Dunning, Reconst. Polit. and Ec, chap. 15. The term origin- 
ated in the journals of the time. 

* Floridian, Nov. 10, Dec. 15, 1874 ; H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 2nd S., 
No. 52. 



644 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

cal wind during these four years. When Radical Senator 
Osborn's term was finished in 1873 ^^^ lively balloting for 
a successor included several Democrats of prominence. 
Simon B. Conover, a moderate Republican, was finally 
elected.^ He had come into the state with the Union army 
in 1866. Both Democrats and Republicans voted for him.'^ 

Two years later, in 1875, the assembly convened to elect 
a senator to succeed Abijah Gilbert. No fewer than ten 
possibilities developed during the balloting. Almost every 
class of political timber was included — the aristocratic 
Democrat, the plebeian Democrat, the one-time Whig, the 
white Republican carpet-bagger, the scalawag, and a negro, 
George W. Witherspoon. The last was a current type of 
the negro orator-politician. Deep-chested, jet-black, full- 
throated, and darkly imposing in manner — he claimed to be 
the ' silver-tongued orator of the South " and really did 
partly make up in a certain eloquent and sonorous cadence 
of sound what he lacked in knowledge. He put the ever- 
interesting phantoms and longings of a negro imagination 
in place of constructive political ideas, maybe — but this w^as 
suited to campaigning in negro churches and camp meet- 
ings. 

Ballot after ballot brought no decisive result. At last 
on the twenty-fifth attempt Charles M. Jones, of Escambia 
County, came within one of a majority. He arose before 
his electors and stated : " In behalf of 1,500 voters whom I 
have the honor to represent I cast my vote for Charles M. 
Jones ".^ He was elected. Thus did Florida Democracy 
after fourteen years of absence win representation again 
in the national congress — the candidate voting for himself. 

^ Tribune Almanac, 1S75, PP- 46-47- 

* An. Cycle, 1873-4. Conover came originally from Middlesex Co., 
N. J. He entered the Federal Army as a surgeon in 1863. 

' Rerick, op. cit., pp. 332. 



PARTY POLITICS 645 

Jones was a remarkable individual — " of stalwart form," 
loose-jointed, shuffling, crude — some said — a bit Lincoln- 
like in gait and manner and viewpoint, with an eloquent 
tongue, a necktie that often surreptitiously sought the top 
of his collar, coat sleeves usually a trifle short, a deep fund 
of bright, shady stories at his command when necessary, 
and a marvelously quick and able grasp of the essentials in 
politics and law. He began life a very poor boy. He de- 
veloped into a carpenter and once hearing a fairly pros- 
perous lawyer make a fool of himself in court, he decided 
to study law himself, for lawyers usually thrive better than 
carpenters. He was almost unlettered when he began to 
acquire law. This was not an auspicious beginning. Cox 
recalls him in after years as an Irishman of " gentle man- 
ners, accomplished talent, rare genius for law and compre- 
hension of fact and philosophy. He was one of the first 
to aid in lifting the South out of its quagmire." ^ 

1875. The end of Republican rule in Florida was draw- 
ing near. The tenure of this party had been a troubled 
one. In every state-wide election since 1868, four in all, 
the opponent political organization, a white man's party, 
had accused it, a black and white party, of gross fraud and 
tyranny. During the four years of Governor Reed's ad- 
ministration no fewer than four unsuccessful attempts had 
been made by the legislature to drive him from office. 
That for which Democrat strove against Republican and 
very possibly for which Republicans contested among them- 
selves was primarily the control of state finance and re- 
sources. Was this position of control being improperly or 
dishonestly used by the Republican party? This raises at 
once the question of the actual character of much adminis- 
trative and legislative activity during the period. The re- 

' Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation, p. 524. 



646 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

view of politics so far attempted offers some explanation 
of conditions. Too scant record remains to ever conclu- 
sively answer how well and honestly the Republicans made 
and administered the laws. Yet, some ideas can be 
gleaned from even a cursory examination of what is left 
of the dominant party's record — the record of Republican 
rule. 



CHAPTER XXV 
The Record of Republican Rule 

The Republicans gained complete control of Florida's 
government in June, 1868. Most of the Republican voters 
wtre negroes hardly above barbarism. Most of the local 
Republican leaders were whites who had lately come into 
the South from the North. This was the black and white 
combination which in the judgment of the native white 
Conservative gave a distinctly sombre character to the Re- 
publican party South. That party controlled the govern- 
ment of Florida till 1877. Its career in Florida has been 
sufficiently criticised and condemned to call for a more con- 
clusive investigation than is possible to-day. Records are 
meager and some are clearly e.v parte. It is, in fact, diffi- 
cult to eliminate bias from judgments of politics during 
the Reconstruction period. The end of any such attempted 
investigation should be to establish the character of the 
dominant party. 

A political party's positive character is probably best re- 
flected in the administration of public affairs by its leaders. 
Record of such administration tends to show what prin- 
ciples and policies were actually adhered to. Campaign 
platforms and pre-election pledges are obviously of sec- 
ondary value as guides to the truth. When reviewed long 
after the election they sometimes indicate what principles 
and policies were not adhered to, although their platitudes 
are usually sufficiently broad to admit of almost any ex- 
planation. The prime object of this chapter is to inquire 

647 



648 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

into some aspects of Republican legislation and administra- 
tion. It is not the object of the chapter to set forth that 
which Republicans promised to do, nor to explain the diffi- 
culties of their position. 

The constitution which was drawn up in 1868 by a Re- 
publican convention and ratified by negro votes extended 
the suffrage and the right to hold political office to the 
black. It made provision for a fairly enlightened govern- 
ment, but a government which in its local application over 
the entire state could be effectively controlled by a few 
party leaders. It provided that all local officials, except 
constables, should be appointed by the governor and senate 
instead of elected by the people.^ This insured Republican 
local supremacy in white sections and was accordingly 
loudly condemned by some white Conservatives living in 
such sections. But in practice the appointive principle 
proved not a particularly bad one for the state because of 
the peculiar condition of the suffrage and of party align- 
ment. The governor appointed to office better men in the 
populous black sections than the negroes would have 
elected. Florida had undergone so many vicissitudes by 
1868, that the adoption of this constitution did not work a 
revolution. The negroes were then already voting and 
holding office. The state had already undergone two per- 
iods of centralized military rule. 

In this Republican constitution, probably the most signifi- 
cant characteristics not already mentioned were: i, the in- 
crease in the number of higher government offices; 2, the 
decided advance in salaries of higher officials; 3, the gen- 
eral preparation for an expansion of the state government's 
activities. The critics of Republican rule point this out as 
an indication of preparation to exploit the state by unduly 

* Constitution of 1868, sec. vi, arts. 17-20 — H. Misc. Docs., 40th C, 
2nd S., No. 114, pp. 11-31. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 649 

elevating salaries and multiplying offices. Such a conclu- 
sion is open to question. As to multiplication of offices : 
the number of circuit judges was increased from five to 
seven ; the governor's cabinet, from five to eight ; the posi- 
tion of lieutenant-governor was created; and the legisla- 
ture, slightly augmented. As to advance in salaries : in 
i860 the governor received $2,500; in 1868, $5,000; in 
i860 the secretary of state received $800; in 1868, he 
and the other seven members of the cabinet received each 
$3,000; in i860, the chief justice received $2,500; in 1868, 
$4,500. In i860, the salaries paid by the state to main- 
tain the executive department and the judiciary amounted 
to $26,200. By 1868, these salaries had risen to $68,500. 
The legislature cost $12,637 in i860; in 1869, it cost $48,- 
615.70.' 

Thus the Republicans provided for more and better-paid 
state officials. In doing so they might have acted in rea- 
sonable response to necessity. The Conservatives who ruled 
the state between 1865-67 had increased the number of 
justices, created county courts, and advanced the salaries 
of governor and judges. Florida government salaries have 
never been outrageously high — even under Republican rule. 
Most officials, like other people, have families to support and 
few then enjoyed much income from rents. In merely rais- 
ing salaries the ruling party did not act recklessly, and, 
furthermore, it showed a willingness to rectify any mis- 
take in this regard. The first Republican legislature pro- 
posed that a constitutional amendment be adopted scaling 
down salaries. In 1870, such an amendment was adopted, 
reducing by one-third all salaries which had been aug- 
mented.^ 

1 Herbert, IVhy the Solid South? pp. 142-3, 150; Const, of 1868. 

* An. Cyclo., 1870, " Florida." The governor was to receive $3,500 



650 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



But this increase in expenditure provided for in the con- 
stitution proved to be but a sign of the times, an indication 
of Republican policy, which proved disastrous for South- 
ern tax-payers. Republican leaders in Florida, as in the 
other Southern states, desired to expand tremendously the 
activities of the state. " Things must be done they be- 
lieved on a larger, nobler, freer scale than under the de- 
based regime of slavery. Accordingly, both by the new 
constitutions and by legislation the expenses of the new 
governments were largely increased ; offices were multiplied 
in all departments ; salaries were made more worthy of the 
now regenerated and progressive commonwealths." ^ The 
dreams of honest Republicans were no doubt worthy, but 
dishonest individuals took advantage of conditions to un- 
mercifully exploit the expanding government. Humani- 
tarians found it impossible to carry out adequately plans 
for social regeneration with a semi-barbarous electorate 
and a graft-eaten government. The expenditure by the 
state for printing and stationery alone in 1869 was $1,500 
more than the entire cost of the state government — legis- 
lation included — in i860; " and yet it is safe to say that a 
majority of those persons engaged in making and enforcing 
the laws in 1869 could neither read nor write. 

The Republican administration in Florida began with 
big ideas. Governor Reed soon after his inauguration for- 
mulated some of these vague expectations.^ He declared 
that the taxable property under the old system had been 

instead of $5,000; all of the supreme court $3,000 each instead of $4,500 
and $4,000; the circuit judges $2,500 instead of $3,500; the cabinet offi- 
cers $2,000 instead of $3,000; and the members of the legislature "per 
diem " and " mileage ". 
1 Dunning, Reconst. Polit. and Econ., p. 205. 

* Herbert, op. cit. (Pasco), p. 150. 

* Governor's Message, An. Cyclo., 1870-71. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 65 1 

greatly undervalued. In the new system which began with 
his inauguration he proposed that the tax-assessors, ap- 
pointed by the governor, and not the owners of the prop- 
erty, should swear to the value of the property.^ He would 
tax the 400 miles of railway hitherto free of taxation, the 
1,000 miles of telegraph line within the state, and the thou- 
sands of acres of land held by the railways which paid no 
taxes. He proposed, in a word, that the corporations be 
made to pay up — and this proposal on its face was reason- 
able and right. He estimated the value of taxable prop- 
erty in Florida at $50,000,000. He pointed out that a 
state tax of one-half of one per cent should yield an income 
of $250,000. He called attention further to the 11,000,000 
acres of public land belonging to the state, which might be 
made to yield, in some fashion, immediate revenue to the 
state." 

Governor Reed addressed a memorial to congress pray- 
ing for the restoration of those lands lost to Florida by 
secession. The lands were desired, he wrote, " to induce 
capitalists to enter again upon the work of completing 

* Floridian, June 15, 1869. " The system of the assessment of prop- 
erty should be thoroughly reorganized," stated the governor in his 
message of June 9. " In one locality by means of a committee of ap- 
praisers appointed outside the constituted authorities, to aid the as- 
sessor, property heretofore assessed at $600,000 will for the current 
year be returned for $1,500,000. This shows one of two things, — 
either that property has heretofore been exempted on the part of 
assessors, or that the persons who should render true statements of 
their property have under oath rendered it at much less than its value." 

* Floridian, April 6, 1869. It was estimated by the Floridian that 
14,166,378 acres of land had been given the state by the Federal gov- 
ernment. Of this amount 10,910,000 acres were designated "swamp 
land ". 1,760,468 acres were granted to aid railroad construction See 
House Journal, ist session, 1868, pp. 55-58, for Reed's ideas about the 
taxable strength of the state. 



652 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



Florida's internal improvement system "/ In subsidizing 
internal improvement, the new Republican administration 
would begin practically where the Democrats had left off 
before the outbreak of the Civil War. The proposal to ex- 
tend state aid to capitalists was, therefore, not a new thing 
for Florida. A senate committee in 1869, entrusted with 
investigating internal improvement, suspected what might 
be the outcome. " Men do not organize themselves into 
railroad companies for glory, but for personal interest," 
stated the committee. " No bonds should be issued to any 
railroad company by the state, or the company's bonds en- 
dorsed by the state except as work progresses and is ap- 
proved by the state engineer." ^ 

The Republicans found an empty treasury, society in a 
pathetically impoverished condition and a number of bank- 
rupt railway systems. The administration addressed itself 
at once to the development of the railways. The governor 
memorialized the Federal Congress for land to aid in com- 
pleting the railway lines from the Atlantic to Pensacola on 
the Gulf, as an " eastern link " in the line of the Southern 
Pacific Railroad from New Orleans. " Down the Penin- 
sula to Charlotte Harbor and Key West, is also of national 
importance," he declared, 

in contemplation of the more intimate relations with Cuba. 
The connection of the St. Johns River and the Indian River 
by canal and the opening of navigation to Biscayne Bay, will 
give an inland navigation of near 1,000 miles, extending from 
Savannah to Key West. The State has granted liberal fran- 

^ Floridian, April (?), 1869. The Floridian, a leading Democratic 
journal, applauded this memorial. The state legislature in its July- 
August session (1868) passed resolutions requesting the Federal gov- 
ernment to regrant lands to the state, — see Laws of Florida, 15th As- 
sembly, Nos. 7, 8. 

' Floridian, June 22, 1869. Report of committee. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 653 

chises to these enterprises, and if the Federal Government will 
renew the former grants with some necessary additions, four 
years will complete the entire system of internal improvements 
in Florida ^ 

In the definite aid asked by the governor is exposed the 
internal improvement contemplated by him. He wished 
the grant of alternate sections of Federal lands for six 
miles on each side of the following projected railway lines 
and canals, i, A railway from Ouincy to Pensacola, about 
150 miles. 2, A railway from Chattahoochee toward Eu- 
faiila (Ala.), about 50 miles. 3, A railway from Baldwin 
to Charlotte harbor, about 250 miles. 4, A railway from 
St. Augustine to Jacksonville, 40 miles. 5, A canal from 
the St. Johns river to the Indian river, 12 miles. 6, A canal 
from the Indian river toward Biscayne bay, 20 miles. 

Being without transportation, most of the land to be tra- 
versed by the railways and canals was for the time a dead 
resource to the state. Once these sections were pierced by 
railways, the optimistic believed that the revenue realty of 
the state would be hugely increased. In a word, the Re- 
publican governor proposed that the lands of the state be 
developed by the efforts of the government in order that 
the government might be strengthened by the consequent 
development of the state. What finally came to pass was 
hardly this. The lands of the state were appropriated by 
dishonest corporations and individuals and the government, 
in turn, weakened by the gross exploitation of the resources 
of the state. Railway franchises, land, and timber were in 
fact sold for a song. 

The immediate problem before the Florida administra- 
tion was to raise money to sustain itself. In doing this, 

^ Floridian, April 6, 1869, memorial of Governor Reed dated Wash- 
ington, March 18, 1869. 



654 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

whether by issuing scrip, floating regular loans, or collect- 
ing taxes, mismanagement and graft developed. On Au- 
gust 6th, 1868, the legislature authorized the issue of $300,- 
000 six per cent bonds, ^ and in September Governor Reed 
went North to make inquiries among bankers concerning 
the sale or hypothecation of these securities." From first to 
last the Republicans turned to New York City for credit. 
The state treasury was empty in 1868. The public debt 
amounted to more than a half -million dollars. The ex- 
penses of government for the year 1866-7 had been $25,000 
in excess of receipts. The Republicans were but newly in- 
stalled, and were savagely opposed by the majority of 
Southern whites. In fact the political and economic future 
of the entire South was extremely uncertain. The task 
therefore of readily financing Florida, though involving a 
comparatively small amount, proved to be difficult because 
bankers and other investors lacked confidence in the state's 
ability or future willingness to pay interest on its bonds and 
notes. ^ 

With some difficulty the bonds authorized in August 
were partly disposed of. Some were sold in New York 
and some in Florida.* Many of the bonds were not sold 
for cash, but exchanged for old state bonds (those of 1867) 
or for outstanding state scrip.^ Other bonds were not sold 

* Laws of Florida, 15th Assembly, chap. 1634. 

* Floridian, Sept. 15, 1868. 

' See comptroller's report, House Journal, 3rd Session, 1870, Appen- 
dix, p. 8. 

* See correspondence relative to the sale of bonds, H. Journal, June 
21, 1869. Among the purchasers in Florida were Gov. Reed, a Mr. 
Hawkins, and a Mr. Austin. See reference to Osborn's attempt to sell 
the bonds, Floridian, Dec. 15, 1868. 

* See report Comptroller Gamble, H. Journal, June 21, 1869. For ex- 
ample, A. B. Hawkins received 36 bonds for which he exchanged bonds 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 655 

but hypothecated as collateral for loans to the state. George 
W. Swepson, of North Carolina, for instance, advanced 
the government $50,000 at 8 per cent on $100,000 face 
value of bonds. Securities which should have sold at 80 or 
90 were disposed of at 50, or hypothecated for less at a 
high rate of interest, to be paid by the state. In this fashion 
did the efforts of the government to obtain ready money, 
quickly tend to increase its burden of indebtedness. 

The quarrel between Governor Reed and the legislature 
caused the latter to vest the control of the next bond issue — 
$200,000 in January, 1869 — not in the governor but in the 
comptroller. Gamble.^ Reed went North during the spring 
of 1869,^ and evidently thought that he had obtained the 
consent of the comptroller to sell the bonds. ^ However, 
United States Senator Thomas W. Osborn applied to the 
comptroller for authority to sell the bonds, and Mr. Gamble, 
in good faith, entered into negotiations with him while 
Governor Reed was away.* Reed and Osborn were bitter 
enemies. The governor arranged with Jay Cooke and Co., 
of New York, to dispose of the $200,000 issue at 75.'' He 

of 1867 to the amount of $28,208.34 and state scrip for $8,158.50. Gov. 
ernor Reed on Feb. 27, 1869, purchased four bonds at 80 cents in Flor- 
ida scrip, etc. 
^ H. Journal, June 21, 1869. 

* He left early in March and was in the North about 30 days. 
Floridian, April 6, 1869. 

' H. Journal, June 21, 1869. " When about to leave" (for the North), 
wrote Gamble in 1869, " he [the Governor] remarked to me in sub- 
stance : ' I can be of service to you in Washington by selling the bonds '. 
I recalled feeling embarrassed for the moment but I had fully made 
up my mind that I could not authorize him to sell, and after a 
moment's reflection I simply replied that I would be glad to hear from 
him what could be done, or words to that effect," etc. 

* Floridian, Dec. 15, 1868; H. Journal, June 21, 1869. 

* Floridian, June 29, 1869. The Floridian was skeptical about the 



656 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



wrote Gamble for formal authority to sell the bonds. The 
reply which he received, informed him that the bonds would 
be sold through Senator Osborn. Reed's despairing reply 
is an interesting side-light on this aspect of state politics. 
" Your arrangement will be ruinous to me and compel my 
resignation if carried out," he wrote the comptroller. " I 
was offered 75 by Jay Cooke and Co., and agreed to deliver 
if I could not get more here. I acted on your direction 
given at the moment of starting and my faith is pledged. 
The negotiation by Osborn will give him entire control of 
political affairs if sanctioned, and my honor is gone." ^ 
Neither Reed nor Osborn sold the bonds and the comp- 
troller at this time refused to hypothecate them with the 
National Loan and Trust Co. of New York — in touch with 
Reed — because the terms were too unfavorable to the 
state. The foregoing incident is typical of the inharmon- 
ious methods of the Republican administration. 

Several banks and brokerage houses of New York City 
were more or less connected with the financial fortunes of 
Florida during these years, such institutions as Jay Cooke 
and Co., the First National Bank, the New York Ware- 
house and Security Co., Soulter and Co., and S. W. Hop- 
kins and Co.^ The last-named house was the agent for a 
group of railroad promoters in the largest and costliest 
blunder or misdeed of the Republican government — namely, 

quoted offer of Jay Cooke and Co. " Tenn., N. C, and Va. 6's are 
from 55 to 61 while between Georgia 6's and 7's there is a marked 
difference of 8 per cent. If securities of these rich states are so much 
below the price for which Florida bonds are expected to be sold, it 
is reasonable to suppose that without some misunderstanding by which 
the State is to be swindled a sale could not be effected so much above 
the general price of Southern securities." 

' //. Journal, June 21, 1869 — Rpt. Compt. Gamble; Reed to Gamble, 
March 11, 1869, from Empire House, Washington. 

^ H. Journal June 21, 1869. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 657 

the issue of bonds to the Jacksonville, Pensacola, and 
Mobile Railroad. 

This transaction affords an example of how respect- 
able thieves and shrewd manipulators of securities profit at 
the hands of American state governments and at the ulti- 
mate expense of the taxpayers. It is typical of Recon- 
struction administration. The principals in the transaction 
were : the Republican legislature ; certain Republican county 
commissioners; the Republican trustees of a state railway 
fund, known as the Internal Improvement Fund ; and lastly, 
a group of promoters, financed by George W. Swepson, of 
North Carolina, led by Milton S. Littlefield, of Maine, and 
aided by certain business men in New York City. 

The railways of Florida had been built partly by state 
aid. The commonwealth was represented by the trustees 
of the Internal Improvement Fund, created in 1855.^ They 
held for the state the bonds of the subsidized railways. At 
the close of the war the roads of Florida were in a very 
bad condition — burdened by heavy debts, hampered by 
run-down equipment, and not doing a heavy business. They 
defaulted on their bonds. The trustees of the Internal Im- 
provement Fund were, under the law, the governor and his 
cabinet. In 1868, the Republicans gained control of the 
government. The new trustees, soon after taking office in 
1868, sold under execution the Central Railroad (from 
Lake City to Tallahassee) for $110,000 to a group of men 
represented by a Mr. W. E. Jackson.^ The purchasers 
straightway obtained a new charter from the legislature 
and their road became the " Florida Central ".^ 

^ Minutes Trustees Internal Improi'ement Fund, v. i (Fla. Hist. Soc, 
Jacksonville). 
2 U. S. Reports, 103, R. R. Cos. vs.. Schutte, p. 120. 
' R. R. Cos. vs. Schutte, p. 120. 



658 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

On February 6th, 1869, the trustees sold under execu- 
tion for defaulting two more railroads: the Pensacola and 
Georgia Railroad (from Lake City to Quincy) and the 
Tallahassee Railroad (from Tallahassee to the port of St. 
Marks)/ This forced sale was advertised "for cash" 
and the roads were disposed of nominally for $1,415,000; 
yet " the purchasers were allowed the privilege of paying 
the purchase money by delivering the road's bonds at their 
par value ".^ About a million dollars worth of these bonds 
had been quietly bought up at a very low figure — 35 cents 
on the dollar — by those who ultimately used them to buy 
the roads from the state. ^ 

The man who furnished the money for the purchase of 
the bonds was George W. Swepson, of North Carolina, who 
in turn obtained the money by embezzling the funds of a 
railway in North Carolina, of which he was president.* 
Many of these old bonds were held by the counties in Flor- 
ida through which the roads passed. The counties had 
before the war aided the building of railways by purchasing 
their bonds. These county governments were partly 
Africanized in 1868, and the new Republican county com- 
missioners sold for a song the railway bonds owned by the 
counties. ° 

' R. R. Cos. vs. Schutte. p. 120. H. Rpts. (U. S.), 42nd C, 2nd S.. 
No. 22, V. I, p. 164. Rpt. Trustees Int. Inipr. Fund in Floridian, July 
13, 1869. The P. & G. R. R. went for $1,220,000; the Tall. R. R. for 
$195,000. Also see Floridian. March 23, 1869. 

2 U. S. Rpts., I, Otto, pp. 667-690, State of Florida vs. Anderson et al. 

^Floridian, March 23, July 13, 1869. 

*R. R. Cos. vs. Schutte, U. S. 103, pp. 120, 137. "Its [W. Div. of N. 
C. R. R.] moneys were wrongfully invested in that stock by an em- 
bezzler. Swepson was the embezzler," etc. — Justice Bradley of the 
Federal Supreme Court. 

•"' U. S. Rpts., I, Otto, p. 673 — Fla. vs. Anderson. Fla. Rpts., v. 13, 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 659 

Swepson, railway promoter of North Carolina, is said 
to have gone before the trustees of the Fund " with 
more than a million dollars first-mortgage bonds stuffed in 
his breeches pockets, which had been purchased by him at 
from 30 to 35 cents on the dollar." ^ 

When the time came for settlement the purchasers were 
$472,065 short of cash or bonds ;^ but "by some con- 
trivance," stated Justice Bradley, of the Federal supreme 
court, " this balance was not paid at all, but was only 
formally settled by inducing the agents of the trustees to 
accept a check for the amount ". Swepson, Littlefield, and 
their associates thereupon " obtained a deed for and took 
possession of the property". The check (for $472,065) 
proved to be " worthless ".^ The purchasers, however, 
now owned three railway lines free of old encumbrances 
and costing them about $2,000 of embezzled cash per mile. 

They went at once to the Republican legislators and in 
June, 1869, obtained a charter consolidating the Talla- 
hassee Railroad and the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad 
into a single corporation known as the " Jacksonville, Pen- 
sacola and Mobile Railroad Company ". The capital stock 
was fixed at $6,000,000, which Swepson, Littlefield, and 
friends issued to themselves.* 

The new corporation at once solicited state aid. The 
Florida legislature was partly black, partly illiterate, and 
then grossly venal. " Littlefield handled plenty of money 

pp. 280-288, " Commissioners of Columbia County vs. Wm. Bryson ", 
pp. 452-481. " Commissioners of Columbia County vs. King," etc. 
H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22 v. 13, p. 211. Herbert, op. cit., p. 148. 

^ Floridian, July 13, 1869. 

2 R. >R. Co. vs. Schutte, U. S. 103, p. 121 ; Fla. vs. Anderson, i, Otto, 
p. 668. 

' R. R. Cos. vs. Schutte, U. S. 103, p. 121. 

* Ibid., pp. 122-126. 



66o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

and the statesmen of all shades and color were unwilling 
to bestow upon him as a gratuity, privileges which he was' 
able and willing to pay for "/ He bribed the bribable to 
support his railway project, which was in brief legislative 
authority for the heavy endorsement of railway securities 
by the state. " General Littlefield was lobbyist for this 
bill," reported a witness of the proceedings in Tallahassee. 
" He is supposed to have distributed several thousand dol- 
lars of railroad transportation bills, current here as money, 
which were deposited to his credit, to the order of Mr. 
Swepson, and drawn out by Littlefield. He followed this by 
drafts on Soulter and Co., of New York, payable to him- 
self and endorsed to members of the legislature to the 
amount of $250 and up to thousands ".^ 

Wholesale bribery went on lustily in Tallahassee. Legis- 
lators were selling the credit of the state. Governor Reed 
was accused of being a party to the trading. A letter re- 
puted to have been written by Swepson to Reed, May 31st, 
1869, states: * 

You remember when in New York our agreement was this : 
You were to call the Legislature together and use your influ- 
ence to have our bills passed as drawn by us ; and if you were 
successful in this, you were to be paid $12,500 in cash, out of 
which amount was to be deducted the $7,500 you have here- 
tofore received, leaving a balance of $5,000 to be paid at an 
early day. Should our bills, as drawn, pass, we want you to 
go to New York and sign and issue to us the State bonds, and 
receive the bonds of our roads in exchange for them.^ 

Under such stimulation a bill expeditiously became law in 
January, 1870, amending the original charter of the Jack- 

* Herbert, op. cit., p. 148. 

' Floridian, July 13, 1869 ; Wallace, op. cit., chap. ix. 

* Letter in S. S. Cox's Three Decades of Federal Legislation, p. 520. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 66l 

soiiville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad and authorizing 
the issue to this corporation of eight per cent thirty-year 
state bonds, to the amount of $16,000 for each mile of road 
in the system.^ The trustees of the Internal Improvement 
Fund were to receive from the succored railway its bonds 
in exchange for these guarantee bonds of the state." The 
professed object of this subsidy was " to complete, equip, 
and maintain the road ". The legislature also authorized 
the issue in like manner of state bonds, to seven other rail- 
way lines partly built or projected. The aid to be granted 
varied from $10,000 to $16,000 per mile. 

And now Littlefield becomes the controlling figure 
in the two reorganized railway systems — namely, the 
" Florida Central " and the " Jacksonville, Pensacola, and 
Mobile ". ^ He obtained from Governor Reed $3,000,- 
000 of state bonds for the latter line, and $1,000,000 for 
the fonner; in all $4,000,000.* In exchange, he gave the 
governor a like amount of railroad bonds. With the state 
securities in his possession, Littlefield left for New York, 
and the final move in fleecing the state began. 

^ U. S. Rpts., I, Otto, p. 668 — Fla. vs. Anderson. Also //. Rpts.. 42nd 
C, 2nd S., No. 22, V. I, p. 344. 

* R. R. Cos. vs. Schutte, U. S. 103, p. 126. The form of the State 
bond was as follows : " It is hereby certified that the State of Florida 

justly owes to , or bearer, one thousand dollars redeemable in 

gold coin of the United States at the Florida State agency in the city 
of New York on the first day of January, 1900, with interest thereon 
at the rate of 8 per cent per annum, payable half-yearly at the said 
Florida State agency in gold on the first days of July and January in 
each year from the date of this bond until the principal be paid on sur- 
rendering the proper coupons hereto annexed." H. Reed, Gov. 

Tallahassee, Jan. i, 1870. S. B. Conover, Treas. 

(Great Seal.) 

^iR. R. Cos. vs. Schutte, passim; Wallace, op. cit., p. 284. 

* R. R. Cos. vs. Schutte, pp. 126, 129 ; Fla. vs. Anderson, p. 673 ; State 
of Florida et al. vs. Florida Central R. R., et al, Fla. Rpts., v. 15, p. 
692. 



662 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

He put the bonds into the hands of a New York and 
London brokerage firm, S. W. Hopkins and Co/ They 

were taken at once to London, and from there put on the 
market in Holland, where most or all of the sales appear to 
have been made. The bonds were undoubtedly steeped in 
fraud at their inception, but they were nevertheless appar- 
ently State bonds on the market in a foreign country, among 
a people largely unacquainted with the English language, and 
offering tempting inducements by reason of their liberal in- 
terest (8%) to those who were seeking investment.^ 

The $4,000,000 of bonds were sold for about 70 cents on 
the dollar, netting some $2,800,000;^ and then the pro- 
ceeds of this sale, instead of being put into building and 
bettering the railroads in Florida, were dissipated in a most 
extraordinary fashion. 

Only $308,938 of the amount were even nominally ap- 
plied to building and equipping Florida roads. The remain- 
ing two and a half -millions were paid to a multitude of per- 
sons and corporations, for unspecified or foolish services 
and claims. Littlefield charged to the fund his traveling 
expenses while in England as agent — about $24,000, a 
round sum for a little tour of a few months. The traveling 
expenses of certain agents of Hopkins and Co. came from 
the same source — $6,216. Bayne and Co. of London, was 
paid $200,000; George W. Swepson, of North Carolina, 
$50,000; the Western Division of the Western Carolina 
Railroad Co., $350,000; the "commissioners" of this North 
Carolina corporation, $48,600; Governor Reed, of Flor- 
ida, $223,750; and so on. Only $153,938 were spent for 

' State of Florida, et al., vs. Fla. Central R. R., et al., pp. 690-732. 
' R. R. Cos. vs. Schutte, p. 132. Opinion of Justice Waite. 
*//. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. i, p. 342; v. 13, p. 250-1. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 663 

railway iron, and about the same amount for building 
nineteen and one-half miles of road/ 

" The report of Hopkins and Co. is a remarkable ex- 
posure for the people of this state who are expected to pay 
the bonds at maturity," declared the Tallahassee Sentinel 
in October, 1871. Whatever had really happened, whether 
the proceeds of the bond sale had been honestly paid to 
honest claimants or stolen for debts contracted in purchas- 
ing the roads and bribing the legislature, the net result for 
the state was the same. Its public debt was increased $4,- 
000,000, and it had nothing to show for it. In final analysis 
what had come to pass was this : Littlefield and his friends, 
working in harmony with a band of respectable thieves in 
New York and North Carolina, had bought with depre- 
ciated bonds and a worthless check, several bankrupt rail- 
way lines from the Republican administration, and then 
the administration had bought back these lines for $4,000,- 
000. The state officials had been either fools or knaves, or 
both. The Republican governor of Florida finally acknowl- 
edged the disastrous outcome of this railway transaction. 
" It appears," he wrote, " that the bonds of the company 
were entrusted to one of the firms of swindlers who abound 
in New York, who by fraud and villany have diverted the 
proceeds from the work for which issued." " 

So far this discussion has involved, in the main, the ex- 
ecutive branch of the government. What of the legisla- 
ture? It has been charged that Reconstruction legislators 
were generally incompetent and corrupt, openly and scan- 
dalously subject to bribery, and guilty with Republican ad- 
ministrators of increasing the burdens of the state. Legis- 

' " Schedule F," statement of Hopkins & Co., — H. Rpts., 42nd C, 
2nd S., No. 22, V. 13, p. 250; Wallace, op. cit., pp. 277-285; Floridian, 
Feb. 25, 1873. 

- H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. i, p. 163 — Governor's Message. 



664 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

lative bodies are apt to fall often from a high plane of 
righteousness and fairness. The investigators of their 
actions should make some allowance, for a certain amount 
of normal badness. Was the Florida legislature of this 
period abnormally bad? Certainly the bitter political strife 
South threw into the lime-light the short-comings of the 
ruling party. The Conservative was inclined to ascribe to 
sinister motive most things attempted by the Republicans. 
He mentioned religiously in the same breath Republicans 
and sinners. He probably forgot that ante-bellum quar- 
rels between Democrats and Whigs, or even between fac- 
tions of the Democratic party, had produced ugly charges 
of dishonesty, of a deliberate seeking after monopolistic 
control of the state's resources, of the exploitation of the 
state's credit for individual or partisan ends. Some of 
these charges were based on truth. 

In reviewing the record of the Reconstruction period — 
however unbiased be the outlook — that which will certainly 
impress the most buoyant investigator, is not the certain 
existence of partisan politics, but rather the amount and 
shameless nature of corruption in handling public funds or 
performing a public trust. Legislators in Florida for once 
were openly thrifty. " Voters are said to have a market 
value," has written a Conservative who knew well the 
times. ^ When the Republican historian of the Florida 
legislature casually wrote, " a large crowd of lobbyists was 
on hand, as usual, to aid in getting through corrupt meas- 
ures," he but repeated the central theme of his Reconstruc- 
tion recollections." 

Bribery was open and shameless — so much so that Gov- 
ernor Reed and Governor Hart openly condemned mem- 

* Herbert, op. cit., p. 147. 
■ Wallace, op. cit., p. 113. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 665 

bers of their own party/ while the Republican legislature 
with grotesque insincerity attempted to expel one governor 
for accepting bribes/ The legislature had sufficient con- 
science left to pass on two occasions resolutions condemn- 
ing this practice and formally calling for investigation/ 
Matters came to such a pass in Tallahassee that the grand 
jury of Leon County indicted for bribery the most promi- 
nent lobbyist, Littlefield, two state senators, and a member 
of the governor's cabinet/ One senator, Charles Pearce, 
a negro Methodist preacher, was expelled from the senate, 
tried in the circuit court and found guilty. He appealed 
to the state supreme court, but that tribunal sustained the 
decision of the lower court. Thereupon Acting-Governor 
Day pardoned the guilty man ^ and Reed removed the 
state's attorney who was prosecuting him.** Pearce was a 
locally powerful negro leader. His escape from the peniten- 
tiary indicated that political reasons were in the way of 
suppressing that evil which was bringing the Republican 
administration and legislature and local government into 
disrepute even among Republicans. But why should the 
governor not be sympathetic with a legislator accused of 
bribery? It will be remembered that the Republican legis- 
lature formally charged the governor with bribery and 
tried hard to remove him. 

^ Message of Hart discussing bribery, H. Journal, 1873, p. 44. 

* Wallace, op. cit., pp. 160-66 — particularly art. 8. 

* An. Cycle, 1873-4. The senate appointed a committee to investigate 
acts of bribery in connection with the election of Senator Conover. 
The committee reported that it "had not been able to find direct proof 
of bribery". 

* Indictment, County Court House, Leon Co., Florida. 
5 Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 387. 

•H. Rpts., 42d C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 299; Herbert, op. cit., pp. 
148-149. 



666 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Akin to bribery was the ancient practice of selling offices. 
Those who did the trading were the various local bosses — 
such as Purman in Jackson County, Billings in Nassau 
County, Pearce in Leon County, Dennis in Alachua 
County, Krimminger in Lafayette County, Stearns in Gads- 
den County, Meacham in Jefiferson County, etc. The 
county offices were appointive. " The men who pay the 
most get the offices — the judgeships and all the subordinate 
offices, high sheriffs, commissioners, etc./' testified a dis- 
gruntled Republican/ The paying in such cases was to 
the boss. The governor consulted the political leader of the 
locality whose " man " usually " got in ". The appointees 
seem to have paid portions of their salaries regularly to 
the boss. Dennis of Alachua County is said to have re- 
quired the signed resignation of an applicant ere he was ap- 
pointed to office. With this document he could force the 
delinquent to pay up. Governor Reed himself was accused 
of receiving money for appointments. 

A very insidious form of purchasing the few high-class 
prizes, was the common and genteel practice of contributing 
heavily to campaign funds. Abijah Gilbert, a certain rich 
man of St. Augustine, is said to have contributed $10,000 
to the Republican campaign fund before he was elected to 
the United States Senate by the legislature.^ " They came 
near breaking the old man," has written one of the legis- 
lators. " Men who came to the capitol with scarcely money 
enough to pay their fare on the railroad could now be seen 
with rolls of bills, evidently extracted from Gilbert." ^ 

The bad legislation which bribery produced is somewhat 
difficult to point out definitely to-day. Probably the worst 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 243, 244. 
2 Ibid., pp. 244, 254. 
* Wallace, op. cit., p. 97. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 667 

acts of the legislature were granting extremely favorable 
franchises without due regard for the reputations of the 
men seeking the charters, or the object of the corporation, 
or the ultimate cost to the state ; the reckless authorization 
of bonds in support of unbuilt railroads; the passage of too 
large and " graft-laden " general appropriation bills ; and 
the enactment of laws, partisan in intent, which made more 
secure the position of the Republican party in Florida/ " I 
think the legislature has been reckless in making an appro- 
priation of bonds and appropriating money," testified a Re- 
publican judge in 1871.' 

What should be borne in mind is the obvious fact, that 
on the boards of directors of various corporations created 
by the state, and aided by the state, were members of the 
legislature, both United States Senators Osborn and Gil- 
bert, Lieutenant-Governor Gleason, and Governor Reed.^ 
The Jacksonville and St. Augustine Railroad Co. of which 
Governor Reed was a director along with Littlefield and 
Swepson, was authorized to receive $640,000 from the 
state. 

The question of the courts under Republican rule has 
been dealt with in a foregoing chapter. State's attorneys 
were not eager to unearth the wrong-doing practiced by 
members of their party. This is such a widespread failing 
in politics that it calls for little comment here. The su- 

' For instance, the electoral law of 1868, Laws of Fla., 15th Assembly, 
chap. 1625; also the electoral law of 1870; the law abolishing the state 
Canvassing Board of 1868, and the law which put the state printing 
and advertising in the hands of journals favorable to the administra- 
tion. Herbert, op. cit., p. 144. 

*//. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 218. 

^ Laws of Florida, 15th Assembly, chap. 1644 — organization of "In- 
land Navigation and Improvement Co." ; chap. 1645 — " Jack, and St. 
August. R. R. Co." ; chap. 1651, " St. Johns and Halifax Navigation 
and Improvement Co.", etc. 



668 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

preme court was honest and creditably sound in its de- 
cisions. The county and district courts managed to dis- 
pense justice without calling forth undue complaint from 
litigants. Governor Reed declared in June, 1869, "that 
the present system of leaving the state to pay for criminal 
prosecutions is not good. It means that law-abiding coun- 
ties are taxed to attend to crimes in other localities. Local 
officers are inclined to prefer charges on frivolous grounds 
just for the profit that comes from the fees." ^ Many of 
the justices of the peace and constables in the counties were 
negroes. 

The state judiciary under Republican rule was better than 
the legislative or the administrative departments, but even 
Republican judges were thrifty. They opposed retrench- 
ment and certain reforms proposed by the legislature, be- 
cause such reforms threatened to decrease fees collected by 
officers of the law. The statute of 1870 to " decrease the 
expenditures of the state and to regulate the fees of offi- 
cers " was declared by several circuit judges to be uncon- 
stitutional because it had been passed at an extra session 
of the legislature.^ One judge overruled the operations 
of the law in his circuit. Governor Reed counseled econ- 
omy. " Now is the time to begin a true system of econ- 
omy," he virtuously wrote. " Reduce the fees of county 
clerks and judges." But when the legislature reduced his 
salary by the amendment of 1871 he strongly demurred.^ 
Republican judges, legislators, and executives as public 
men did not object to the idea of reform, provided the re- 

^ Floridian, June 15, 1869. The governor claimed that the cost of 
criminal prosecutions due to the activity of Democratic regulators, was 
a heavy expense to the state, in 1870 amounting to $58,408.59, — H. Rpts., 
42nd C, 2nd S., No. 22, v. I, p. 164. 

* An. Cyclo., 1871-2. 

' Governor's Message, 1872; Wallace, op. cit., p. 146. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 669 

form did not injure their several incomes. Their several 
attitudes were suggestive of the Lion's in La Fontaine's 
fable : 

" Je me devouerai done, s'il le faut; mais je pense 
Qu'il est bon que chacun s'accuse ainsi que moi : ^ 
Car on doit souhaiter, selon toute justice 
Que le plus coupable perisse." 

The Republicans in Florida sometimes used the courts 
for political ends and not juridical ends. The justice of the 
Federal district court of Northern Florida, pliant to the 
needs of his party, adapted his court orders on several occa- 
sions to the political situation. It will be remembered that 
Judge White, of Gadsden County, was arrested by order of 
this official, and taken to Jacksonville in order that his 
injunction might be disregarded by the state canvassing 
board. In 1872 some of the Alachua County canvassing 
board were taken by the Federal marshal to Jacksonville, in 
order that the vote of the county which had been carried 
by Democrats might be thrown out — to the advantage of 
Republicans. In 1874 two Democratic State senators, Mc- 
Caskill and Crawford, were summoned by this court to 
Jacksonville. The state senate at Tallahassee was at a tie 
between Democrats and Republicans, and the absence of 
McCaskill and Crawford made it possible for the senate to 
unseat two undesirables — which was done.^ Such action 
as the foregoing needs no comment, yet it was the Federal 
court which restrained the reckless career of the trustees of 
the Internal Improvement Fund and thereby saved millions 
of acres of land to the state. 

The trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund were 

' Herbert, op. cit., p. 165. Pasco refers to this court deliberately aid- 
ing the Republicans in a local election in Tallahassee by calling a num- 
ber of Democratic leaders away as witnesses. 



670 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



the legal guardians of state lands.^ These lands constituted 
a reserve fund for making good the interest and principal 
of railway bonds guaranteed by the state. They were 
therefore lands held in trust. Yet the enterprising Repub- 
lican administration, immediately on assuming the reins of 
government, began to transfer portions of trust lands to 
various corporations — such, for instance, as the Southern 
Inland Navigation and Improvement Company.^ 

The prize sought was not really land, but rather the tim- 
ber on the land. In March, 1870, the trustees conveyed to 
the New York and Florida Lumber Company 1,100,000 
acres of land.^ The market value of such lands then was 



* See Internal Improvement Act, Jan. 6, 1855. For interpretation of 
Act at this time see Un. Trust Co. vs. So. Navigation Co., U. S. Rpts., 
I03t P- 567 : " The companies after completing their roads, were to pay, 
besides interest on their bonds, one per cent per annum on the amount 
thereof to form a sinking fund for the ultimate payment of the prin- 
ciple. The Act declared, that the bonds should constitute a first lien 
or mortgage on the roads, their equipment and franchises, and upon 
a failure upon the part of any railroad company accepting the Act 10 
provide the interest and the payments to the sinking fund as required 
thereby, it v^as made the duty of the Trustees to take possession of 
the railroad and all its property and advertise the same for sale at 
public auction." 

2 Un. Trust Co. vs. So. Navigation Co., U. S. Rpts., 103. On Nov. 3, 
1870, Francis Vose, of Mass., brought suit in ihe Federal Circuit Court 
for No. Florida against the Trustees and others (Fla. Canal and In- 
land Improvement Transportation Co., So. In. Navigation Co., etc.), 
to obtain an injunction and decree "protecting the Internal Improve- 
ment Fund against waste and misappropriation by the Trustees, to the 
injury of Vose and others who held unpaid bonds issued by the Florida 
iR. R. Co. in conformity with the Act of 1855. The bill charged that 
the Trustees had violated the law of their trust by misappropriating 
money received by them, leaving unpaid past-due coupons, by neglect- 
ing to collect the amount due the sinking fund created by the Act of 
185s, and by illegally conveying millions of acres of land to corpor- 
ations that had no right to receive them," etc. 

3 Un. Trust Co. vs. Inland Nav. Co., U. S., 103, p. 568. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 671 

at least $1.25 per acre. To-day it is selling for $25 per 
acre. The New York and Florida Lumber Company ob- 
tained it for ten cents per acre, paid largely with depre- 
ciated scrip bought up at a discount of 50 per cent or more.'' 
In this way were the state's resources being frittered away 
into the hands of Northern capitalists.^ After such fashion 
were the Southern people robbed of a goodly portion of 
their birth-right after the war. Verily the Republican ad- 
ministration was following a course which would fulfil 
Governor Reed's desire " to induce capitalists to enter upon 
the work of completing Florida's internal improvement 
system ". 

In December, 1870, nine months after the foregoing 
transfer to the New York and Florida Lumber Company, 
the Federal court for the northern district of Florida is- 
sued an injunction against the trustees, ordering them to 
desist from selling trust land " for scrip or state warrant 
of any kind, or for aught other than the current money of 
the United States ".' 

The trustees were evidently little impressed with the in- 
junction of a Federal court. On February loth. 1871, sixty 
days after the injunction was issued, they transferred to 
the Southern Inland and Navigation Company " for. and in 
consideration of the sum of $1 to them in hand paid " 
(and no other considerations) 1,360,600 acres of land ; and 
the corporation so enriched mortgaged this land " for a very 
large amount".* Who got the money for the mortgage? 
Evidently the state did not receive it. The most influential 
members of the state trustees (including the governor) 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 252. 

2 See also case of Trustees z's. Greenough, U. S., 105, pp. 528-532. 

•■' Un. Trust Co. vs. So. Nav. Co., U. S., 103, p. 568. 

* Ibid., pp. 569-70. 



672 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

were directors in this Southern Inland and Navigation 
Company. Justice Woods of the Federal district court for 
North Florida summoned the enjoined trustees to answer 
for contempt of court. He declared the conveyance of the 
land void and put the Internal Improvement Fund in the 
hands of a receiver to keep it from the hands of the Re- 
publican government. There it remained until after the 
restoration of Democratic rule.^ 

A succinct generalization of the financial results of Re- 
publican rule is contained in the state government's formal 
financial record. Reckless expenditure and increased in- 
debtedness produced a sharp rise in the amount of taxes 
assessed and collected by the state and local governments. 
In i860, the receipts by the state treasury were $115.- 
894.89; in 1867, $161,806.21; in 1868 (the first year of 
Republican rule), $223,433.67; in 1869, $347,097.12; in 

1870, $192,488.60; in 1871, $275,005.59; in 1872, $257,- 
233.54; in 1873, $664,405.81; in 1874, $401,679.68; in 

1875, $384,735.24; in 1876 (the last year of Republican 
rule), $286,280.58.' 

A considerable rise was experienced also in the govern- 
ment's expenditures, exclusive of bond issues. In i860, it 
was $117,808.85; in 1867, $187,667.63; in 1868, $234,- 
233.80; in 1869, $374,973.23; in 1870, $295,078.50; in 

1871, $410,491.19; in 1872, $304,214.35; in 1873, $536,- 
192.55; in 1874, $292,037.37; in 1875, $290,261.43; in 

1876, $260,187.19.' 

From the foregoing it is seen, that for the first four years 
of Republican rule, the actual expenditures of the state 
government ran in advance of receipts $11,000 in 1868; 

1 Herbert, op. cit.. p. 152; Un. Trust Co. rs. So. Nav. Co., U. S., 103, 
' Herbert, op. cit., p. 143 ; An. Cycle, 1873-4. 
• Herbert, op. cit., p. 143; An. Cycle, 1873-4. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 673 

$27,000 in 1869; $103,000 in 1870; and $47,000 in 1872/ 
From 1873 to the end of the Repubhcan regime in 1876, re- 
ceipts amounted to more than expenditures, and expenditures 
dechned each year by a few thousand dollars. Yet during 
these last four years the sum total of expenditure was more 
than $250,000 in advance of the total expenditure of 
Reed's administration (1868-1872). This tendency indi- 
cates that the financial steadiness of the state government 
increased toward the end of Republican rule. The state 
was made to yield more taxes. 

The amount of taxes assessed was, as a rule, consid- 
erably in advance of the amount collected. Many of the 
tax-collectors were behind in their accounts. During the 
year 1873 ^ large amount of back taxes was paid in, mak- 
ing the funds received by the state government amount to 
$664,405, while the amount assessed for this year was 
$422,994. In 1874 the assessed taxation was $429,308, 
and the amount collected, $401,679; in 1875, $408,684 as- 
sessed and $286,280 collected; 1876, $380,858 assessed and 
$286,280 collected.' 

A significant general index of how the commonwealth 
taxpayers were faring financially at the hands of the gov- 
ernment, is furnished by the movement of the state tax-rate. 
In i860, it was sixteen and two-thirds cents per annum on 
the $100.^ The emancipation of the slaves at the end of 
the war produced an enormous shrinkage in what was con- 
sidered personal property. According to the Federal census 
and the " Ku Klux " Committee of Congress, the total value 
of property in Florida in i860, real and personal (includ- 
ing slaves), was v$68,929,685. The value of slaves was 

' Rpt. Comptroller, An. Cyclo., 1873-4. 
' Herbert, op. cit., p. 168. 
' Herbert, op. cit., p. 157. 



674 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



estimated to be $21,610,750.^ Therefore, about one-third 
of the property in the state available for taxation in i860, 
was lost in 1865. The emancipated did not at once become 
property-holders. This shrinkage in tangible property was 
accompanied by a greater demand for money to meet the 
obligations of the government, with the consequent rise in 
tax-rate. By 1867 it had risen from sixteen and two-thirds 
cents to fifty cents per year on the $100. By 1872, it had 
risen to $1.37 on the $100. This estimate is exclusive of 
municipal and county taxes, which more than equaled the 
state rate.^ County governments were absolutely subject 
to the state administration in Tallahassee. 

The Republican government, in order more effectually to 
collect taxes, greatly centralized the system by creating the 
" State Equalization Board " on January 27th, 1871.^ Gov- 
ernor Reed proposed the measure. It was stoutly opposed 
by the few Democrats in the state legislature. The minor- 
ity of the senate committee that reported the bill stated 
that, 

the ruthless reign of the late war disorganized the people, the 
staid denizens, the real and most reliable people of Florida; 
the labor of the country is neither systematic nor reliable ; the 
current crops upon which the success and support of the people 
depend, are not flattering ; and therefore an impartial, patriotic, 
and patient investigation has produced the clearest conscious- 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. i, p. 161. 

' In 1871 county taxes were estimated to be about $1.00 on the $100.00. 
An. Cycle, 1871-72. 

' Governor's Messages, Floridian, Jan. 19, June 9. 15, 1869. Reed dis- 
cussed at length the question of taxation. " A Board of State Equali- 
zation, having before it the total value of property assessed and the 
average value per acre as returned for each coun'y, should apportion 
upon equitable principles, the amount of revenue required for each 
county necessary to defray the annual current expenses of the State," 
etc. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 675 

ness in our minds, that the passage of the bill under consid- 
eration would result in widespread and irreparable embarrass- 
ment to the people.^ 

By the creation of this "Equalization Board" a state com- 
mittee was given the authority to pronounce on the value of 
property and to fix the rate of taxation by counties.^ On 
the board were several of the most active as well as notor- 
ious Republican leaders — namely, W. J. Purman, Liberty 
Billings, and William H. Gleason. Many property-holders 
among Republicans as well as Democrats, accused them and 
their associates on the board of fixing the rate to suit their 
financial operations in the various counties.^ The state 
comptroller in 1872 declared the board to be " an entirely 
incompetent body ".* However questionable might have 
been the methods of these tax-equalizers, it is worthy of 
notice that following the establishment of the "Equalization 
Board", the receipts of taxes by the state treasury increased. 
The government obtained more money from the people, and 
the people who paid taxes were soon aroused to united 
protest." 

' Senate Proceedings, session June 9, 1869, Floridian, June 15, 1869. 

' The Board was composed of 8 members, 3 appointed by the presi- 
dent of the senate and 5 by the speaker of the house, An. Cyclo., 
1 87 1 -2. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 209, etc. 

* Comptroller's Report, 1872. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. i, p. 342. The minority of the 
House commi tee summed-up the taxation grievances of the people of 
Florida as follows: i. The law which placed the immense power of 
taxation in the hands of a few men (the Equalization Board) unac- 
quainted with the character and value of the property, except in the 
immediate vicinity. 2. A tax ra'e imposed on an assumed valuation of 
property which is without a parallel in any other State and which can- 
not be borne without great distress, etc. 3. The forcing of people to 
pay taxes to meet appropriations which are not necessary. 4. The 



6^6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

A manifestation of dissatisfaction was the meeting of 
the " Tax-Payers Convention " in Lake City in September, 
1 87 1. " Both Republicans and Democrats, colored men 
and white men, men of all classes and grades and politics 
came there ", states a Republican Federal judge who took 
part/ The convention affirmed that " the deplorable con- 
dition of state as well as county finances and affairs is a 
consequence of the loose and reckless legislation of men 
formed into governing cliques — ' rings and caucuses ', 
banded to sustain such organizations, independent and de- 
structive of the principles of free American government," ^ 

The tax situation in Florida was in truth not a happy one. 
The value of real and personal property (exclusive of 
slaves) had shrunken from $47,000,000 in i860, to $34,- 
000,000 in 1870,' and the critics of the Republican admin- 
istration claimed that the latter figure was " an arbitrary 
and raised valuation." Of this amount appro'ximately $11,- 
700,000 was personal property, and, because of local con- 
ditions, practically the only property available for meeting 
the tax levies. Certainly we are confronted with a startling 
reduction in the declared value of personal property. 

paying out to people of two descriptions of obligations or scrip, one 
of which is received by the State while the other is repudiated for 
public dues. 5. In leaving nothing exempt from sale for taxes. 6. In 
the provision of the law which permits the collection of the entire tax 
from the personal property of citizens. 7. In exacting this large tax 
at a time when it is unnecessary for the due administration of the 
state government. 

^ H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22. v. 13, p. 208 — Judge T. T. Long 
before " Ku Klux " committee. Also pp. 214, 215, 219, 244, 245. 

' Ibid., p. 208 — preamble of Convention's resolutions. 

* H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, V. i, p. 162. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 677 

County 1867 1870 1873 1875 

Jackson $667,361 $544-940 $495,400 $415,912 

Jefferson 816,858 753.302 506,325 415,512 

Madison 493,195 446,256 372,647 363,478 

Marion 694,291 539,489 5I5,I43 444,347 

Alachua 750,944 542,674 317,422 348,349 

Gadsden 835,666 493,848 392,805 338,760 

Leon 1,260,820 945,623 903,088 662,884 1 

These seven counties were the richest and most popu- 
lous of the state. The tax rate increased; the taxpayers 
soon found themselves financially hard pressed; and the 
arriount of personal property accordingly perceptibly dimin- 
ished. The regime O'f greater personally liberty which 
came as a result of the Civil War was not without accom- 
panying expense. Montesquieu's conception of the ulti- 
mate relationship between liberty and taxes, if not con- 
strued too literally, tends to fit the case of Florida. '' Lib- 
erty ", he says, " produces excessive taxes ; the efifect of ex- 
cessive taxes is slavery ; and slavery produces a diminution 
of tribute." ^ Before the end of Radical rule the value of 
property in Florida had declined. The government was 
facing a " diminution of tribute." 

Opposition to paying taxes continued and became violent 
in some sections. In November, 1871 the governor issued 
a proclamation openly charging that men of influence were 
striving to bring the state laws into contempt, to discoun- 
tenance the state government, and tO' initiate civil com- 
motion " by taking advantage of a partial failure in the 
cotton crop and consequent monetary stringency tO' encour- 
age seditious sentiments. He called on all citizens ' to for- 
get the rancor and hate of the past ' and unite for the public 
good ", but he closed with the statement, that the laws 
would be enforced and the taxes must be paid.^ 

' Herbert, op. cit., p. 166. 2 I'Esprit des Lois, bk. 13. chap. 15. 

• Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. 2, p. 321, Governor's Message. 



678 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Opposition to the government was strengthened by the 
steady disclosure of outrageous grafting — sometimes pettv 
and sometimes great. Government officials, including tax- 
assessors and collectors, traded in foreclosed lands, state 
scrip, county bonds and stocks. The cost to the state of 
such proceedings added to the burden of public indebted- 
ness and general discontent. The collection of state and 
county taxes was particularly productive of graft. In 
1872 Governor Hart announced that $598,000 in taxes had 
not reached the state treasury. He, a Republican governor, 
charged his Republican tax-collectors with substituting 
scrip for money collected and falsely swearing that these 
identical warrants had been received.^ Scrip was worth 
anywhere from 30 to 50 cents on the dollar. " You can 
have my scrip for $.30 on the dollar ", stated Judge Long 
(Republican) in November, 1871. "That is the most I 
have got for it this year ".^ In thus returning scrip and 
withholding currency with which some taxes were paid, the 
tax-collectors were charged by the governor with " setting 
at defiance the criminal code, cheating and thieving the 
public for the purpose of pocketing the difference ".^ 

Some of the collectors were as much as $40,000 behind in 
their accounts. They were accused, even by fellow Re- 
publicans, of profiting by the use of these state and county 
funds. " For four years ", declared a prominent Republi- 
can property-holder to a Republican committee of Congress, 
" they have been buying scrip to pay into the Treasury at 
40 or 50 cents on the $1.00. Some are loaning money at 
three per cent a month. There are men here living like 
millionaires, getting only $50 a month to my knowledge ".' 

' H. Journal, 1873, p. 41. 

* H. Rpts., 426. C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 212. 

* H. Journal, 1873, p. 41. 

* H. R{ytsi, 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, pp. 243, 244, 246. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 



679 



The issue of scrip by the state and county governments 
in paying their bills, put into circulation a medium which 
thus encouraged speculation and graft and enormously de- 
creased the revenues of the state. Governor Reed had seen 
this danger. In his first message to the legislature, he 
earnestly advised a " cash basis ", claiming that from 25 
to 50 per cent could be saved and the state securities put 
at par.^ But actual conditions proved more powerful in 
shaping the government's policy than theory of what was 
best. The government had little money. In lieu thereof it 
issued scrip to meet the deficiency, and its credit was in turn 
depressed while its debt mounted.' 

The public debt in 1866 was $638,681. By July 1868 it 
was reduced to $523,856.95, but by January, 1869, it had 
risen to $1,011,756.00. Two years later, January, 1871, 
it stood at $5,288,697,76; and in January, 1872, it stood 
at $5,311,469.97; in January, 1874 it reached the highest 
point during the Republican regime, $5,620,809.55. The 
state debt was increased under Republican rule about 900 
per cent in eight years.^ 

^ Aft. Cyclo., 1870-71. 

* Floridian, June 15, 1869. Gov. Reed in his message of June 9th 
stated that, " scrip encourages speculation, hurts the State's credit, and 
causes those people who do things for the State to charge the State 
more than if they were paid. Thus there is a continuous and ever- 
increasing expense." 

An. Cyclo., 1870-71, states that, "the peculiar feature of the financial 
system of Florida seems to be that ;he medium most used in making 
payments by the state, as well as by the people of all classes and for 
all purposes, consists in treasury certificates of various descriptions. 

Most of what was designated " floating debt " was contracted by issue 
of "scrip" (Treas. warrants and certificates). On Jan. i, 1870, it was 
$151,825.32; on Jan. i. 1871, $276,325.28; Jan. i, 1872, $563,524.89. In 
1868, when the Republicans took control of ihe state, the floating debt 
was only $57,492.32. See Comptroller's Report, 1872. 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. i, p. 343. An. Cyclo., 1868-69- 



68o RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Most of this debt was bonded. The total amount of 
bonds issued by the government from 1868 to 1876, ex- 
clusive of railway guarantee bonds, was $1,850,000. In 
1868, $300,000 6 per cent bonds were authorized; in 1869, 
$200,000 6 per cent bonds ;^ in 1871, $350,000 7 per cent 
bonds; and finally in 1873 came the most important fiscal 
measure of the last Republican administration, namely, the 
Funding Act." By it $1,000,000 of 6 per cent thirty year 
bonds were authorized, and a special property tax of four 
mills on the dollar, was levied for the interest and sinking 
fund O'f this issue. These bonds of 1873 were meant to 
fund the warrants and treasury certificates outstanding, 
and to redeem State bonds held in hypothecation. A salu- 
tary effect of the Funding Act was the introduction of some 
order, in the chaotic condition of the government's finances. 
The first two bond issues — $300,000 in 1868 and $200,000 
in 1869 — were mostly hypothecated. $100,000 (face value) 
of them were sold. The other $400,000 were hypothecated 
in various amounts for a total of about $135,000 cash. The 
bonds of 1871 ($350,000) were all sold.^ 

Where did the money go which was received from col- 
lecting taxes, selling state lands, and selling state securi- 
ties? The debt increased. A public debt might be 
a " public blessing ", and is not in itself necessarily indi- 
cative O'f a bad government. But it is a truism that a gov- 
ernment wisely administered should give to the taxpayers 
the equivalent in service and safety for the taxes collected — 

70-71-72-73-74-75. Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation, p. 524, 
presents different figures and concludes that the "prospective" and 
contingent liabilities of the state in 1872 amounted to $17,588,287. 

* Laws of Florida, 1869, chap. 1701. 

' An. Cyclo., 1871-72-73-74. 

'An. Cyclo., 1868-75. F^(^- Rpts., v. 14 (1874), Cheney and wife vs. 
Jones, pp. 589-620, regarding constitutionality of bond issues. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 68 1 

roads, bridges, public buildings, asylums for the helpless, 
police protection, schools, hospitals, etc. Writing for men 
of an earlier generation and a different land Montesquieu 
never presented a political fundamental more clearly than 
when he undertook to discuss the public revenue. The ex- 
perience of Florida vitalizes the Frenchman's conclusion. 
" The public revenues ", he wrote, 

are a portion that each subject gives of his property in order 
to secure and enjoy the remainder. To fix these revenues in 
a proper manner regard should be had both for the necessities 
of the State and those of the subject. The real wants of the 
people ought never give way to the imaginary wants of the 
State. Imaginary wants are those which flow from the pas- 
sions and weakness of the governors.^ 

The passing years witnessed a very inadequate return to the 
people of Florida for the money expended. The grand jury 
presentments of the various counties indicate an execrable 
condition of public roads.^ The county court houses became 
seedier and dirtier each year. The state and county archives 
for the Reconstruction period are in an abominable condition. 
The state prison was reorganized by an elaborate and wise 
law, but what went on there was scandalous.^ A Republi- 
can member of the legislature who took part in investigat- 
ing the prison, concluded that the warden, a carpet-bagger, 
" made thousands of dollars for himself out of the prisoners, 
while the state lost thousands by his management." * 

" There are no improvements here ", declared an irate 

' U Esprit des Lois, bk. 13, chap. i. 

' Grand Jury Presentments for counties of Central Florida : Leon, 
Jackson, Wakulla, Gadsden, Jefferson. These records are very incom- 
plete and fragmentary but enough remains to indicate a general truth. 

•'' Laws of Fla.. 1868, chap. 1635. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 249. 



682 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Republican from the North living in Leon County — " no 
court house and no jail fit to put a hog in ".^ When asked 
if there was a poorhouse in the county he answered: 
" There is a place in the city that is nasty, filthy, hot, and 
everything else. It was said before Judge Long's court that 
men there were rotting with lice and filth because the county 
would not do anything." * Railroads were built and re- 
paired very slowly, although the state extended heavy aid. 
Honest capital, the most timid of all commodities, avoided 
the state. "People who have money and can live where they 
please are not coming here to support such a gang ", de- 
clared a Republican property-holder.^ 

Mr. Pasco's rather depressing conclusion, gained partly 
from personal experience as a citizen of Florida, seems an 
historically sound one. He says : 

No public buildings, no institutions for the unfortunate, no 
colleges, normal schools, or seminaries were built or aided from 
the State treasury during this period. The school system, 
though liberally supported by taxation, had disappointed the 
reasonable expectations of the people. Crime had gone un- 
punished. Property was unsafe. Farmers almost abandoned 
the effort to raise meat because of the constant depredations 
upon their stock. Many of the magistrates were incompetent, 
some were notoriously corrupt, and thieves and depredators 
were not seriously alarmed at the prospect of a conviction be- 
fore a negro jury.* 

While the general record of Republican legislation and 
administration was disastrous for the state, yet many meas- 
ures were meant honestly and were wise. For example, 

' H. Rpts., 42nd C, 2nd S., no. 22, v. 13, p. 242. 
" Ibid., p. 246. 

* Ibid., p. 244. 

* Herbert, op. cit., p. 166. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 683 

the school law of 1869 was not bad; ^ the law of 1871, con- 
cerning defaulting insurance companies, was meant to pro- 
tect the interest of the individual citizen; and the law of 
1870, to " decrease expenditures of the State and to regu- 
late fees of officers," was certainly a step toward a sound 
reform and retrenchment." In establishing and maintain- 
ing public schools, the Republican administration was do- 
ing fair work, although the Conservative property-holders 
were paying the bills. 

The field for primary education in Florida was virgin. 
71,000 inhabitants over ten years of age were denominated 
illiterate; 18,000 of them were white.^ The total popula- 
tion of the State was less than 200,000. By the end of the 
first year of Republican rule (1869), 250 public schools 
were in operation with 7,575 pupils enrolled from the ap- 
proximately 60,000 children of school age, — white and 
black.'* By the end of the second year (1870), 331 schools 
were open with 14,000 pupils in attendance, one-third of 
whom were negroes. The amount expended by the state 
during this year was $70,284.^ Three years later the num- 
ber of pupils enrolled was 19,610 and the expenditure 

$111,389- 

" Men bitterly opposed to the school system a few years 
ago, regarding it as a political hobby to be used for party 
purposes ", stated the negro superintendent of public in- 
struction, J. C. Gibbs, " now see the necessity of edu- 
cating the masses and willingly co-operate in school work." ° 

' Laivs of Florida, 1869; see shrewd analysis of law, Floridian, 
March 30, 1869. 
' An. Cyclo., 1871-2. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 42nd C, 3rd S., no. i, pt. 5 (Rpt. Sect. Int.), p. 61. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 41st C, 3rd S., no. i, pt. 4, pp. 105-8. 
» Ibid., pt. 5, p. 58. 

* Ibid., ist Sess., no. i, p. 65. 



684 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Practically every county levied a school tax and in addition 
the state government collected a yearly mill tax for public 
instruction. In 1876 when the Republicans were driven 
from power 676 public schools were established with 28,444 
pupils, black and white, enrolled — the expenditure for that 
year being $158,846.36. The school terms were short 
(under six months), the teachers poorly trained, if trained 
at all, and the buildings crude. Practically all of the 
money expended for public instruction was collected from 
Southern whites, who as Conservatives were allowed little 
voice in directing the school system which they supported. 

The eight years of the Republican party's lease of power 
in Florida were not happy ones for the state. Undoubtedly 
the reorganized government in 1868 faced a difficult situ- 
ation. The state had pressing need in 1868 of a careful 
and honest government to help society regain its strength. 
The government did not perform any such valuable func- 
tion. In explaining failures the Republicans were prone to 
the exaggeration of initial difficulties. " We received the 
high trust now held by us with the State desolated by seven 
years of anarchy and misrule ", wrote Governor Reed in 
1870, 

with an empty treasury, with $600,000 acknowledged debt, and 
a much larger amount repudiated and hanging like a cloud 
upon our financial escutcheon, with bonds dishonored by years 
of neglected interest, with a school fund robbed of its last 
dollar to aid in a war upon the republic, with a railroad sys- 
tem half completed, bankrupted, and at the mercy of an ad- 
joining State, with revenue laws inadequate to the current ex- 
penses of the government, and which contemplated no payment 
of interest upon the State debt ; with no schools or school sys- 
tem ; no benevolent institutions, no alms-houses, no penitentiary 
and scarcely a jail. Such was the inheritance bequeathed to 
us [Republicans] by the fortunes of war.^ 

* Herbert, op. cit p. 167. 



THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN RULE 



685 



The governor's statements were either palpable mis- 
statements or half-truths or irrelevant. They do' not ex- 
plain why the public debt increased enormously during the 
Republican administration; why the state v^as robbed of 
valuable resources in land, timber, and franchises ; why Re- 
construction jails and alms-houses were gruesome jokes; 
why bloodly lawlessness increased; why prosperity lan- 
guished while bribery and ballot box stuffing become the 
order of the day. The failure of the Republican govern- 
ment was hardly due to the poverty of the state and the 
bitter opposition of disgruntled Southern whites. It was 
the failure incident to the operations of a lot of self-seeking, 
reckless, shrewd, and grafting politicians, who were in local 
politics for all they could squeeze out of it, who controlled, 
by fair means or foul, the ignorant and often vicious negro 
majorities and therefore controlled the government and 
therefore the public purse-strings. Florida's sorrow was 
the inevitable result of the bad national legislation of 1867. 
Congressional reconstruction, wrought under these laws of 
a national government, put people in control of local gov- 
ernment and therefore taxation who had little property in 
Florida or out of Florida. Those in control saw fit to 
levy heavy taxes and burden the state with heavy debt. 
Why not? they might have reasoned; they did not pay the 
taxes. The final and future incidence of such taxes did not 
disturb them because they either did not understand the 
question or did not care. " Those who pay no taxes ", 
says John Stuart Mill, " disposing by their votes of other 
people's money, have every motive to be lavish and none to 
economize ". The truth of this is obvious. "As far as 
money matters are concerned ", continues Mill, 

any power of voting possessed by them is a violation of the 
fundamental principles of free government, a severance of the 
power of control from the interest in its beneficial exercise. 



686 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

It amounts to allowing them to put their hands into other 
people's pockets for any purpose which they see fit to call a 
public one, which in the great towns of the United States is 
known to have produced a scale of local taxation onerous 
beyond example.^ 

The truth of this latter observation is open to question, but 
Mr. Mill might have chosen Reconstruction government in 
the United States to drive home the principle which he here 
sets forth. 

'^Representative Government, p. 176. 



CHAPTER XXVI 
The Election of 1876 

The election of 1876 in Florida being the logical product 
of Reconstruction politics was very ugly. It was, in fact, 
the bitter developed fruit of eight gnarled and twisted 
years. Every important incident and issue and condition in 
the campaign and the aftermath was foreshadowed in the 
experiences of these eight years. It would have been very 
strange if politics in Florida in 1876 had been clean and 
straight. " Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
thistles?" Things as they were, though ugly, had about 
them the eternal quality of fitness; for, as Edmund Burke 
once put it, " though ugliness be the opposite to beauty, it is 
not the opposite to proportion and fitness ".^ Florida's 
electorate was well trained by sad experience for this dis- 
graceful finale of Reconstruction and Radical rule. 

The campaign was to prove the most memorable since 
the autumn canvass of i860 preceding secession. Then 
the radical Democratic party which controlled the local gov- 
ernment had controlled the elections and amid hosannas had 
swept the state out of the Union. In 1876 the radical 
Republican party which controlled the local government 
lost the elections and amid bitter recrimination was swept 
permanently from power, i860 inaugurated the revolution 
which 1876 closed. During these sixteen eventful years — 
the most strenuous in our national history — the political 
pendulum swung back and forth from active revolution to 

' Burke, An Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful. 

687 



688 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

revolutionary reaction — and each time Florida was the 
poorer. There is small virtue in abrupt change of the con- 
stitution, particularly with a powerful ignorant electorate 
dictating it or opposing it. This commonwealth's experi- 
ence demonstrated Walter Bagehot's conclusion that amid 
a primitive electorate " most change is an evil " in itself. 

Early in February, 1876, the Democratic state executive 
committee issued a call for the " Conservative State Con- 
vention " to assemble in Quincy on June 2ist.^ The call 
opened " the memorable campaign ". The Conservative 
committee in taking this step acted a month ahead of its 
Radical contemporary. Among Southern whites in Flor- 
ida political hopes were mounting high. Such sentiment 
moved over the entire South like a great ground swell 
which presages some storm. " The exciting prospect of 
escape from the clutch of a hostile national administra- 
tion," states Professor Dunning, " set the hearts of the 
whites throbbing wildly from the Potomac to the Rio 
Grande "' 

The expected representation in the Conservative conven- 
tion was published by the committee issuing the call. One 
hundred and seventeen delegates were apportioned among 
the thirty-nine counties. County conventions would choose 
the delegations. The local Conservative party was in fairly 
compact and efficient shape. It had not been always thus. 
The change had been wrought slowly amid defeats and the 
dirty but illuminating conditions of Reconstruction politics. 
Experience is a hard, merciless, but withal logical teacher. 
The green-horn leaders of 1868 were veterans in 1876. 
Some were unscrupulous past-masters in the cunning and 
demoralizing art of combating rascality and crushing num- 
bers by counter rascality. 

' Floridian, Feb. 15, 1876. 

* Reconst. Polit. and Ec, p. 303. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 689 

The Republican executive committee issued a call on the 
17th of March for a state convention to assemble on the 
31st of May/ It was soon patent to even the casual ob- 
server that the contest for nominations would be sharp. 
Congressman W. J. Purman and United States Senator S. 
B. Conover, both termed " carpet-baggers ", headed factions 
in Florida which bitterly assailed the public career as well as 
the private character of Governor Stearns.^ Stearns was 
the reputed leader of the Republican " ring " profiting 
financially from public land deals, railroad bond issues, and 
tax receipts. The Democrats magnified and advertised in 
their journals and on the stump the trouble within the 
Radical party. 

The Republican state convention assembled at Madison 
on May 31st. " From the issuance of the call for the con- 
vention until and during its riotous sessions," states John 
Wallace, Republican, " whiskey was the strongest argument 
used to demoralize the colored people, with now and then a 
little money thrown in to keep up the hired loafers, who did 
nothing but follow up white carpet-bag ballot-box stufliers 
and halloo themselves hoarse for Stearns." ^ 

For the first three days out of a four days' session the 
convention was engaged in a bitter factional contest. Gov- 
ernor Stearns was desperately opposed by the friends of 
Senator Conover and Congressman Purman. These two 
men were the reputed leaders of reform within the local 
Republican party. Just what shape reform would take is 
not clear, and probably was not clear then. Governor 
Stearns had arranged for his own renomination. He had 

^ An. Cyclo., 1876. 

* Floridian, March 28, 1876; also letter of Purman published in 
Floridian, Sept. 26, 1876; and Cong. Record, March 8, 1876. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 329. 



690 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

called the " members of the ring together in Jacksonville " 
before the assembling of the Madison convention, and at 
this pre-convention caucus it had been determined that he 
should be the Republican gubernatorial candidate.^ 

The organization which managed to dictate to the Madi- 
son convention was the " Central State Committee ". The 
committee was ably handled by its chairman, ex-Lieutenant- 
Governor Gleason, lately back from Europe, where he had 
gone after his expulsion from office in Florida. One duty 
of the " Central State Committee " was to pass on the 
credentials of county delegates. It refused to admit " Con- 
over men " from seven counties. By thus ruthlessly shut- 
ting out hostile delegations the Stearns managers com- 
passed the governor's renomination. David Montgomery, 
carpet-bagger, late delinquent tax-collector of Madison 
County, and close friend of Stearns, was nominated for 
lieutenant-governor.^ The so-called " ring " therefore tri- 
umphed at Madison. The liberal element in the party was 
suppressed. In district conventions, W. J. Purman and 
Horatio Bisbee, carpet-baggers, were nominated by the 
Republicans for Congress from the First and Second Dis- 
tricts, respectively.^ 

On their failure to make themselves heard in the state 
convention, the " Conover men " withdrew and nominated 
Conover for governor and J. A. Lee, of Sumter County, 
for lieutenant-governor.* 

This break among Republicans threatened to be very ser- 
ious, and in the end was probably a decisive factor in the 
campaign. Conover undertook an independent campaign 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 325. 

' Floridian, May 3, June 6, 1876; An. Cyclo., 1876. 

' Wallace, op. cit., pp. 332-333. 

* Floridiati, June 6, 13, 1876. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 (5gi 

for the governorship. He is reputed to have requested 
campaign funds from the Conservative party.' The breach 
was nominally closed before election day, November 7th. 
" A private consultation was had between Stearns and Con- 
over," states Wallace, " and an agreement was entered into, 
that in consideration of twelve or fifteen hundred dollars 
Conover should withdraw and advise his friends to support 
Stearns "." 

Early in September, Conover gave up his canvass and 
came again into the folds of the regular organization.'' 
However, the effect of this traditional disagreement among 
Republicans was prejudicial to united and enthusiastic ef- 
fort on the stump and at the polls. Both the Conover con- 
vention and the regular state convention chose delegates 
to the national Republican convention, and the latter body, 
strangely enough, refused to admit the regular or Stearns 
delegation.* 

The Democrats assembled in state convention at Ouincy, 
on June 7th, two weeks before the date first set. Some 
Conservatives termed this gathering " the largest and most 
intelligent ever held in the state ". It proved to be at least 
more peaceful and harmonious than the Republican meet- 
ing. The representation exceeded the number called for in 
February. One hundred and ninety delegates were present 
from thirty-five of the thirty-nine counties in the state. 
V/ithout serious controversy or division they nominated 
George B. Drew' for governor, N. A. Hull for lieutenant- 
governor, R. H. M. Davidson for congressman from the 
First District, and J. T. Finley for congressman from the 
Second District.^ 

^ Wallace, op. cit., p. 333. * Ibid., p. 333. 

^An. Cyclo., 1876. * Wallace, op. cit., p. 331. 

' Floridian, June 13, 1876. 



692 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



Drew was a native of New Hampshire. He had settled 
in Florida twenty years before the Civil War, and during 
that conflict was counted an original opponent of secession, 
but was neither an aggressive supporter of the Confederacy 
nor a very pronounced "Union man". He did not serve in 
the Confederate army but he had supplied the Confederate 
war department with bridge timbers.,^ He had prospered 
financially in the lumber business and in 1876 was referred 
to sometimes as " millionaire Drew ". His nomination at 
this crisis by Florida Democrats was expedient. 

After two days' session the convention adjourned. Drew 
and Hull campaign clubs quickly sprang up over the coun- 
try like mushrooms of a night. These organizations spread 
abroad and gave some vitality to the Conservative plat- 
form.^ 

" We arraign the state government," ran the resolutions, 

for its corruption, oppression and extravagance, for its reck- 
less disregard of the rights of the people ; for administering 
the government as if created for the benefit of the rulers and 
not the people. For these and other considerations we pledge 
ourselves to work unceasingly and earnestly for the overthrow 
of this party in power, and we cordially invite the cooperation 
of honest men of all shades of political opinion to unite with 
us in sustaining and enforcing the following principles : 

1. Fidelity to the constitution and all its amendments. 

2. Retrenchment and economy in Federal and State admin- 
istration. 

3. Lessening burdens of labor by a reduction of taxes and 
offices. 

4. Free schools exempt from sectarian control. 

5. Opposition to centralization as well as Federal interfer- 
ence in local government. 

^ Floridian, June 20, 1876; Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, v. i. 
' Floridian, Aug. 8, 15, 22, 1876. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 5^2 

6. Exposure and punishment of corruption in officials. 

7. Equal rights and equal justice to all irrespective of race.^ 

The advent of summer sav^^ the campaign actively and 
bitterly in progress. Benjamin Hill, of Georgia, among 
others, came into Florida to speak for the Conservative 
party.^ The cry of Democratic campaign orators and edi- 
tors was in principle little different from what it had been 
for six years past. No new issue was in fact before the 
people of Florida. The national Republican party was 
charged with keeping alive the Southern question for the 
sake of politics, and the local Republican administration was 
charged with " dishonesty and incapacity ".' 

The Republican platform, though put forth by men ac- 
cused by even fellow Republicans of defrauding the state, 
assumed nevertheless a lofty tone. Formal and smug 
hypocrisy is too often a part of successful politics. The 
platform declared the Republican party " to be in accord 
with the just and enlightened sentiment of mankind and 
largely answerable for material, intellectual and moral prog- 
ress throughout the world." Furthermore, it endorsed the 
administration of the state government as being " wise, 
just, economical, and progressive." * There was little dif- 
ference in principle between Republican and Democratic 
platforms. Men were in fact not wrangling over principles, 
but rather over the actual measures of government which 
constituted the local Republican record, and as Edmund 
Burke once put it : " Whether a measure of government be 
right or wrong is no matter of fact but a mere affair of 

^ An. Cyclo., 1876. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 336. 

' Floridian, Aug. 29, 1876, open letter of Wm. A. Cocke entitled 
" Why Governor Stearns Should not be Elected." 

* An. Cyclo., 1876. 



694 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

opinion on which men may, as they do, dispute and wrangle 
without end ".^ 

When confronted by embarrassing facts concerning 
" measures of government ", the general tenor of Repub- 
lican reply was that the party in Florida " had to encounter 
organized opposition surrounded by influences of the most 
baneful and malign character ",^ and that the Democratic 
method in the coming campaign would be " the shot-gun 
policy pursued in Mississippi ".^ Both of these conclusions 
were true, but neither had much to do with what the state 
needed and what the mass of the whites demanded. The 
Republican position was a negative one. 

To the practical Democratic politician the important 
points in the campaign were " to get out " the torpid white 
vote, to suppress in some fashion a portion of the eager 
negro majority which backed the Republican party, and to 
force Radical election officials to refrain on election day 
from stuffing ballot-boxes, using spurious poll lists, and 
purposely miscounting votes. Platforms, formulated is- 
sues, and trite arguments were of very little importance to 
the vast mass of voters in Florida. People felt rather than 
reasoned the issues, and probably most meant to support, 
and did support, one party or the other regardless of argu- 
ments. 

Conservatives deliberately set to work in many localities 
to intimidate would-be Radical negro voters. Local bands 
of white regulators — somewhat suppressed since the con- 
gressional Ku Klux laws and Federal prosecutions of 1871- 
1873 — became active again. Blacks were warned that if 

* Thoughts on the Causes of the Present Discontent. 

' Floridian, Aug. 31, 1876, containing statements from the Florida 
Sentinel, Republican journal of Tallahassee. 

* Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 45. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 695 

they supported the Republican ticket they would be pun- 
ished. Robert Meacham, a Radical negro leader of Jeffer- 
son County, was called to his door at night and fired on.^ 
He escaped, and the Democratic club of Monticello offered 
$100 reward for the arrest of the would-be assassin. - 

In Columbia County a band of armed whites took several 
negro leaders into the woods and after putting halters about 
their necks preparatory to hanging them, desisted on ob- 
taining from the blacks promises not only to vote the Demo- 
cratic ticket and join the Democratic club in the neighbor- 
hood, but to persuade a certain number of friends to do 
likewise. " Every one of you promise how many men you 
will fetch over to the Democratic party besides yourselves, 
and name them out ", the regulator chief was represented as 
saying, " and fetch them over, and you join the Democratic 
club right away just the first meeting called ".^ 

This form of intimidation broke up the Republican clubs 
of Columbia County and other counties. Former black 
Radicals were referred to as " good Democrats ".* Why 
this change in politics and affiliations? Was there really 
considerable change? Some negroes afterwards solemnly 
affirmed, that at the point of a gun they had been forced to 
swear to vote the Democratic ticket, and then forced to 
swear before witnesses that they had never been forced to 
swear to do so. Being unable to remember just what they 
had sworn to do or not to do and being threatened with dis- 
aster if they voted or foreswore, some hesitated to vote 
at all. 

Furthermore, the more aggressive negro leaders threat- 
ened to beat or shoot those blacks known to have gone over 

' Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, pp. 333-338. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. 2, p. 213. 
^ Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 242. 

* Ibid., pp. 241-253. 



696 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



to the Democrats. " They are afraid of their own color," 
affirmed one white man. " A large portion of them would 
not acknowledge under any circumstances that they voted 
the Democratic ticket ".^ One negro testified that " he was 
beaten and severely cut, previous to the election, by colored 
Republicans, because he dared to express his Democratic 
principles, and that he now considers his life in danger as 
there have been threats made concerning him, in the neigh- 
borhood where he lives "." Such testimony as this was 
characteristic of the Reconstruction period, particularly of 
the political canvass of 1876. Many a negro must have 
felt that to exercise the suffrage he must choose between the 
Devil and the deep sea. 

Threatened and actual physical violence was only one of 
the methods employed by Conservatives to influence the 
black's political activity. Most landlords and employers of 
negro labor were Conservative whites. Negroes were 
threatened with dismissal from employment if they voted 
the Republican ticket.^ " We pledge ourselves to each other 
by our sacred honor," publicly announced the Democratic ' 
Club of Monticello, 

to give the first preference in all things to those men who vote 
for reform ; and to give second preference in all things to those 
who do not vote at all ; that in employing or hiring, or renting 
land to any such persons [as vote the Republican ticket] a 
distinction of 25% will be made against such persons; that 
merchants, lawyers and doctors, in extending credit to such 
persons, make the same distinction.* 

^Sen. Rpts.. 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 180. 

2 Ibid., p. 228. See also pp. 136, 138, 207, 233, 241, 307, 310, 385, etc. 

3 Ibid., pp. 292, 338, 339, 341, etc. The mass of testimony taken by 
Congressional committees during the next two years on the Florida 
situation contains references to this. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., No. 35, pt. 2, p. 214; Sen. Rpts., 
44th C, 2nd S., No. 611, pt. 2, p. 46. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 6^7 

This is a fair sample of the economic coercion attempted 
in Florida. It had been attempted before. One negro 
leader summed up the situation very well when he said : 

The substance [of the matter] was about like this: that all 
colored people that vote the Republican ticket were to be 
starved out next year. We colored people down here have to 
go to the merchants and farmers to have advances made us. 
What we call advances is to let us have meat and corn.'^ 

Some Conservative householders who rented to negroes 
told their tenants to vote the Democratic ticket or seek an- 
other domicile. Negro cooks were ordered by their mis- 
tresses to induce husbands either to stay away from 
the polls or to vote the Democratic ticket, on pain of dis- 
missal from their places as cooks." The force of such a 
threat is obvious to all who understand the importance of 
kitchen privileges to the Southern negro. 

In East Florida, Democratic county committees issued 
thousands of marked and numbered Democratic ballots, 
which were delivered to employers of negro labor. On the 
eve of election the employers handed them to their men 
with little more than the simple injunction " vote it ". 
" Dennis, I give you this ballot. I want to see it come out 
of the ballot-box to-morrow night ". The numbers were 
recorded opposite the names of the men receiving the bal- 
lots. Those who did not vote as told would presumably 
lose their jobs. " We have been friends a long time," said 
one employer. " If you don't vote those tickets we will 
fall out ".' 

The officials of a railroad in East Florida were accused 

1 Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 336; testimony of Geo. 
W. Witherspoon. 

* Ibid., pp. 338-342. 

» Ibid., pp. 429-433- 



698 RECOASTRUCriON IN FLORIDA 

of distributing these numbered Democratic ballots among 
the road's negro laborers. Ex-Senator David L. Yulee, 
president of the corporation, declared that the allegation 
was " unfounded and untrue," but added that, 

if the company had done what is alleged, it would have done 
only what it had a right to do. If, in view of its own inter- 
est, it was important to secure a certain government policy, as 
for instance, to remedy oppressive taxation and unfit appoint- 
ments to office, there is no reason in morals or law why it 
should not prefer in its services those who are disposed to 
promote and sustain its policy and interests.^ 

The Republican managers were directing the Radical 
campaign with large activity and small scruple. They were 
preparing shrewdly to overcome by fraud what Democrats 
might gain by force. Rumors were abroad of ugly plans 
entered into by local Republican bosses to unfairly influence 
the elections. Vindictive partisanship colors most surviv- 
ing stories. John Wallace, Republican, states on fairly 
credible authority that Governor Stearns and his politi- 
cal lieutenants outlined the following scheme : 

First : that the ring county officers whose duty it was to ap- 
point the inspectors of election, should appoint only those as 
Republican inspectors who would commit all the fraud that 
possibly could be committed on the ballot-box in favor of 
Stearns. Second : in large Democratic precincts, where the 
ring inspectors would be watched so closely that they could 
not commit fraud, gross irregularities were to be committed, 
so that the precinct returns could be thrown out by the board 
of county canvassers. Third : in Democratic counties having 
a full set of Republican officers or a majority of the board of 
county canvassers. Democratic precincts were to be thrown 
out on account of these irregularities if the people would sub- 

' Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 439. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 



699 



mit to it without violence. Fourth : if the throwing out pro- 
cess raised too much excitement, these irregularities were to 
be sent immediately to E. M. Qieney, chairman of the fraudu- 
lent returning board of the party at Jacksonville, who would 
prepare papers for the final count. Fifth : in the black-belt 
counties, general repeating was to be resorted to by the freed- 
men, and, if detected, Stearns, the Governor-elect, would pro- 
tect them.^ 

The election machinery was in Republican hands, because 
most of the men who had anything to do with directing the 
election and counting the votes were the appointees of the 
Republican governor or boards of county commissioners of 
like politics. A visitor from the North did not exaggerate 
much when he described the situation thus : 

From the precinct ballot-boxes to the Tallahassee state-house, 
the place of voting, the precinct officers who receive the vote, 
the officer who records the vote, the county officers whose 
judgment affects the certificate of the vote, the State officers 
who by law canvass the county returns of the vote, all are 
Republicans or under Republican control. Such is the law, 
such is the fact. The Florida Democratic Committee are un- 
aware that county returns have been stolen from the mails, 
which are under Republican control.^ 

The public school teachers, the majority of local officials, 
and the Federal office-holders were more or less active in or- 
ganizing the Radical vote. " The whole public school sys- 
tem ", says Wallace, 

was made a powerful auxiliary to the campaign fund of 
Stearns. The State Superintendent, while possessing unques- 
tionable ability relative to the duties of his office, devoted his 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 435. 

' H. Misc. Docs.. 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. 2, p. 227. Manton Marble. 



700 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



whole energy and time to the nefarious canvass for the nomi- 
nation of Stearns, to the utter neglect of the education of the 
masses. The same is true of some of the superintendents of 
the black belt and other counties — organizing political clubs in- 
stead of schools.^ 

The local Radical leaders strove to keep their grip upon 
the individual negro voter for the November test. " Two 
weeks before election time the colored brothers in every 
precinct were notified by Saunders, Bowes and other leaders 
that unless they voted as many times as they could on the 
day of election they v^ould be put back into slavery ".' 
Bowes, superintendent of schools for Leon County, ordered 
printed a quantity of small thin Republican ballots called 
" little jokers ", with v^diich to stuff the ballot boxes on 
election day.^ He jocularly told his friends of the project 
and later used the ballots to good effect. 

Negroes in the densely black sections were as usual in- 
clined to be aggressive in their political declarations, and 
were even bellicose and insolent. In Key West a notice 
charged to negroes was found posted one morning before 
the home of a local Conservative leader. " My name is 
Hell ", it ran, " and I will burn your property to the ground. 
It may be three months, six months, twelve months, eigh- 
teen months, but I will burn it to the ground for my name 
is Hell ".* 

The half-serious reference by Wallace to the Florida 
negro public school catechism, furnishes an insight into the 
temper of the times. " ' Who is the ' Publican Governor 
of Florida?' " was the first question. 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 326. * Ibid., p. 337. 

» H. Misc. Do£S., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. i, pp. 12-24. 

i'^^M. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 384; H. Rpts. 4Sth C, 
3rd S., No. 140, p. 12. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 



701 



Answer: "Governor Stearns." "Who made him Governor?" 
Ans. : " The colored people." " Who is trying to get him 
out of his seat ?" Ans. : " The Democrats, Conover, and some 
white and black liberal Republicans." " What should the col- 
ored people do with men who are trying to get Governor 
Stearns out of his seat?" Ans.: "They should kill them." ' 

As the fateful November 7th drew near, wilder and 
uglier rumors spread abroad. The contest was a real one. 
In some localities it was a rough one. Republican cam- 
paign managers sought to make it seem a desperate one for 
the physical safety of Radicals in Florida. " The coming 
election is the crisis of free government in Florida ", de- 
clared the Republican state campaign committee, on October 
23rd, in an address sent broadcast over the state. 

Our Democratic opponents realize already that their defeat is 
inevitable unless they can stifle the voice of the people by fraud 
and violence and deter the masses of our party from casting 
their ballots on the day of election. 

Information absolutely reliable has been received at these 
headquarters that evil, designing men in the South counties of 
Georgia are preparing to invade our State in armed bands on 
the 7th of November next for the purpose of intimidating 
Republicans from casting their ballots and to stir up riots and 
bloodshed. Georgia, now Democratic by 80,000 majority, pro- 
poses to assist the Democrats of Florida in wresting from our 
people the rights guaranteed us by the constitution and laws 
of our common country.^ 

Popular excitement increased as the days passed. Radi- 
cal leaders helped it on for a purpose. Negroes were rest- 
less and mass meetings were frequent. " In view of the 
excited condition of the public mind ", announced Governor 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 326. 
* An. Cyclo., 1876. 



702 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

Stearns on October 31st, " and the in some degree well- 
founded apprehension of coming trouble growing out of the 
bitter political canvass now in progress in this State . . . 
I earnestly call upon all citizens to temper zeal with dis- 
cretion and to deprecate fraud, violence, and disorder," '' 

The distribution of Federal troops over the state was de- 
sired by Radicals, and the troops were readily obtained. 
Several weeks before election day the war department be- 
gan to distribute squads of regulars over the state. The 
presence of a few United States soldiers went a long way 
toward protecting black Radicals from possible onslaughts 
by exasperated and excited whites. 

On the 8th of October a battery of the Fifth United 
States Artillery was ordered to move from Tampa to Gaines- 
ville (in the midst of the Black Belt) — " to arrive between 
the 1st and 7th [of November], to go into encampment, 
and to remain until the 14th." ^ Squads of ten soldiers 
each were ordered from St. Augustine to Lake City and 
Quincy, and twenty soldiers were sent tO' Madison. A bat- 
tery of the Fifth Artillery was sent from Barrancas to 
Marianna and another battery to Pensacola.^ 

Did the situation in Florida merit the presence of na- 
tional troops? The soldiers did little positive harm of 
their own accord. No one was killed. Probably no one 
was even arrested by them. No serious rioting occurred. 
Police were necessary, but was it the function of the national 
government to police polling places? Both Republicans 
and Democrats asked for Federal troops. " Can you not 
have troops at Tallahassee and Monticello, Florida, on elec- 
tion day ", telegraphed Mr. Drew, Democratic candidate 
for governor, to General Ruger three days before the elec- 

^ An. Cyclo., 1876. 

* H. Ex. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 30, p. 45. 

3 Ibid., pp. 45-47- 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 



703 



tion. " We desire them "/ Republican leaders took ad- 
vantage of this situation to frighten faint-hearted negro 
constituents. Federal uniforms stood for Republicanism 
with the black. He was told that if he did not vote the 
Republican ticket the soldiers would put him in the " chain 
gang".^ 

The presence of soldiers was useful in restraining Demo- 
crats who were, as a rule, seeking to carry the elections at 
almost any cost. They were not over-scrupulous about 
means. They sought results primarily. The key-note of 
their campaign method was not persuasion. That had 
failed. The key-note was threatened violence and economic 
coercion. That was positive, and that had already partially 
succeeded. The Democrats stood for a white man's gov- 
ernment. They promised honest and inexpensive reform. 
" Such reform was needed, God knows ", said one man. 
It is true that Florida had been undergoing reform since 
1867, but the result had not been satisfactory to the whites. 
The State was very poor, taxes were very high, and society 
was in a bitter turmoil. 

The election methods of Conservative reformers in 1876 
when judged apart from environment and in the light of 
exalted ethics, were rather bad. Democrats did not forge 
election returns, because being out of office that privilege 
accrued to Republicans; but they bulldozed opponents at 
the end of a halter or the point of a gun into voting wdth 
them or not voting at all. They did not manufacture spur- 
ious poll lists because that too was a Republican privilege, 
but they distributed spurious ballots to illiterate blacks and 
some did not hesitate to vote twice or three times on election 
day. 

' H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, pt. 4. P- 343- Ruger was in 

command of the military department and was stationed at Atlanta, Ga. 

* Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., pp. 194, 244, 246, etc. 



704 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

This canvass was primarily between a black man's party 
and a white man's party. The whites of Florida in 1876 
outnumbered the blacks by more than 5,000/ The Re- 
publican party was split and former Republicans, black 
and white, were of their own volition either supporting the 
Conservative party or not voting at all." The local Re- 
publican party had been losing ground since 1870. These 
facts indicate that in 1876 registered Conservative voters 
considerably outnumbered Radical voters. The election 
was therefore not only a fight by the whites to obtain con- 
trol of the government, but a fight by the majority — the 
people — to obtain control of their government held by the 
entrenched representatives of the minority. These represen- 
tatives had it within their power by sharp and high-handed 
practice in manipulating election returns to hold their con- 
trol and their offices. The affirmation sometimes made that 
a fair election would have resulted in a Republican victory 
is not supported by the more patent and fundamental facts 
in the case. A fair election would have resulted in a more 
complete Democratic victory. 

It is true, nevertheless, that Democratic regulators de- 
terred by violence Radical voters and it is equally true that 
Republican election officials threw out by fraud honest Con- 
servative votes. The average Democrat of Florida in this 
election, if profane — and most were — believed that he was 
" fighting the Devil with fire " and that political salvation 
lay through sinning; if a sentimentalist or a philosopher 
he was wont to believe that he was voting for the " su- 

* Census of 1870 pfave white population of 96,057; black, 91,689. See 
reference to this question in E. W. R. Ewing, Hayes-Tilden Contest, 
p. 22; McClure, Our Presidents, p. 265; Blaine, Tivcv.ty Years, v. 2, 
p. 581. 

* Wallace, op. cit., chap. 19; Sen. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, 
Doc. Ev., pp. 181-183, 193, 197, 198. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 705 

premacy of Caucasian civilization " ; if historically minded, 
he could well express on his own question the ringing 
opinion of Edmund Burke on the first great American 
question : " If other ideas should prevail things must re- 
main in their present confusion, until they are hurried on 
into the rage of civil violence or until they sink into the 
dead repose of despotism ". 

On election day, November 7th, from early morning till 
sundown, Democratic watchers closely surrounded most of 
the important polling places. Dishonesty by election offi- 
cials was expected because it had occurred before, and con- 
ditions had not materially changed since it had occurred. 
Conservatives came prepared to challenge those sus- 
pected of " repeating " or plural voting, but Radical election 
officials found ways and means to overcome quickly 
such obstruction. "We had a list of names to be challenged," 
stated one Conservative, " names of persons whom we be- 
lieved to be disqualified. That list we had there and it was 
impossible to do that. Tliey [election inspectors — Radicals] 
did the thing so rapidly that we could not find the names. 
Before we could begin to look for them they would call 
out ' check ', and the vote was passed in and the voter 
gone." ' 

At the precinct polling places the three inspectors of 
election who conducted the actual voting were stationed 
usually in a room before an open window near the ground. 
The ballot box was in view of those outside. The voter 
passed his ballot openly to an inspector who dropped it in 
the box through a slit in the top of the box.^ " The voter 
usually stood by the window ", stated one election official 
in describing the process of voting at one precinct. " I 

* H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. 2, p. 7. 
' For electoral methods, see Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, 
p. 310. 



7o6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

think the top of the window is about six feet from the 
ground. A tall man could possibly look over the window 
sill. The voter was standing below. The person ad- 
ministering the oath was standing probably three feet from 
the window, one person between. The inspector who re- 
ceived the vote was standing next the window." ^ 

Democratic regulators on election day picketed the roads 
and country by-paths, with shot-guns across their saddles, 
to prevent negroes from marching across country from one 
polling place to the other and repeating their votes. In 
Leon county, for instance, bands of negroes began to vote 
" early and often. They started early in the morning " and 
it is claimed, voted at every precinct from Tallahassee to 
the State line — " and each time the same man would vote 
under an assumed name "." 

At Monticello in Jefferson County " 500 armed horse- 
men" paraded the streets. The polls in Monticello "opened 
about 8 o'clock " testified a special election policeman. 

Within a few minutes of that time, and for some time before — 
an hour and a half, or two hours perhaps — there was a great 
deal of noise and confusion about the polls — noise of hammer- 
ing at the windows and people crowding up to look in. At tl-.e 
time the polls were opened there was a dense crowd round the 
polls, so much so that they were thrown over one another's 
heads and climbed up to get out, and for, well, an hour I sup- 
pose, it was impossible to get any order there at all.* 

In Jackson County, also, some uproar accompanied the 
voting at the more important polling places. Obstreperous 
whites and insolent negroes frequently " had words ". Un- 
der such circumstances the black was wont to threaten to 

' H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S.. no. 35, pt. 2. p. 8. 

' Wallace, op. cit., p. 338. 

' H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. 2, p. 15. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 



707 



call the marshal — usually a Republican — for protection. 
One negro in describing what happened in Friendship 
Church precinct said : 

And then Lewis Godwin [black] called the marshal, and then 
Shumaker and Tommy Davis [whites] said, " God damn you, 
let the marshal start, and there will not be a piece of him as 
big as a rag, and there will not be a piece of you found as 
big as my hat." Then Tommy Davis yelled and put his hand 
down to his hip as if for a pistol, and we all drawed back, and 
Squire Parker then came up — a good, clever old fellow, a jus- 
tice of the peace there, a good Democrat — and he talked to 
them, and said there ought not to be any trouble there, and 
we all listened to him.^ 

The attempt to associate negroes and Southern whites 
on precinct election boards only added to the confusion 
of the election in some localities and caused much of 
the aftermath of recrimination. The two white elec- 
tion inspectors of Friendship Church precinct, for instance, 
objected to the presence of the third member, Henry 
Long, a negro. " We all went into the room ", said Long, 

and wdien the hour arrived to go to voting Mr. Stephens said, 
" Where is Long?" I says, " Here I am," and he said, " You 
belong outside." I said, " No ; I reckon not, if I know what 
is right !" He says, " No, you do belong outdoors." I says, 
" No, I don't," and I pulled out my authority and showed it. 
He says, " Well, you do belong outdoors," and I says, " I 
don't." And he says, " Well, I know you do belong out 
there and you must go out there," and, of course, I went out. 

" Did Mr. Stephens display a pistol at that time?" asked the 
chairman of the Congressional committee questioning Long. 
" Yes, Sir ", replied Long, " just before that he pulled out 

• Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 325, testimony of Thos. 
Miller. 



7o8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

a pistol and laid his pistol on the table ". " When you 
went out how did you go?" was asked. "I went out 
doors right by the windoAv ", Long answered.^ 

In Jackson County and elsewhere " galvanized " ballots 
were quietly issued by Democrats to illiterate negroes. 
These ballots had the Republican insignia engraved above 
and the names of the Democratic candidates printed be- 
neath.^ The Radical blacks knew their party emblem. 
They had been taught that. Most of them could not read. 
This ruse did not work well. Republican leaders who could 
read usually took these semi-Democratic ballots away 
from the negroes before the}^ reached the ballot box. 

In Escambia County Democrats repeated votes by rail. 
After voting in Pensacola a carload of Conservatives trav- 
eled to Bluff Springs and another car-load to Perdido. The 
Republican Federal marshal attempted to head them off by 
telegraphing that they were coming, but the repeaters man- 
aged to recast some of their votes. ^ 

At Waldo in Alachua County a passenger train is said to 
have stopped while the passengers amused themselves by 
voting for both Democrats and Republicans at the local 
polling place. 

In West Florida a Democratic railroad official sent sev- 
eral gangs of negro workmen out of the state intO' Alabama 
to work on the railroad. The blacks left Florida with the 
expectation of coming back the day before the election, but 
their train " broke down " a hundred miles away in the 
woods, and they spent election day in Alabama. 

In Leon County, the Republican county superintendent 
of Schools, Joseph Bowes, managed to slip into the ballot 

* Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 312. 

' Ibid., p. 321. 

'5"^. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., pp. 146-149. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 y^g 

tx)x of one precinct a sufficient number of his spurious 
ballots termed " little jokers " prepared in advance.^ 

In Key West, Monroe County, the report was spread 
abroad early in the day that the negroes were being armed 
by their white leaders and meant to drive the Conservatives 
from the polls. The mayor of the town made inquiries 
among the Federal office-holders concerning this report. 
The Democrats of the Third Precinct, " the Conchs ", were 
boisterous and turbulent. The Republicans of Key West 
claimed that unregistered persons voted the Democratic 
ticket; that the surrounding crowd of Conservatives would 
yell out when such an individual was challenged : " He's all 
right. Let him vote " — ^and that he usually voted. As the 
editor of the Key West Dispatch — a Radical journal — ap- 
proached the polls, amid the hooting of the crowd some one 
called out : " Can't you give that spectacled son-of-a-bitch 
a clip in the snoot?" — which passed as election humor.^ 
In Jackson County despite the presence of Federal troops 
" plenty of pistols and double-barrelled shot-guns " were in 
evidence among the whites. 

Yet in the majority of the polling places over the state, 
nothing out of the ordinary transpired on November 7th. 
The day passed in Florida with remarkably little violence 
and commotion, when what was expected is taken into con- 
sideration. Armed Georgians did not come over the state 
line, and native whites did not ride rough-shod over the 
negroes. The general tone of the mass O'f surviving testi- 
mony concerning the conduct of the election and the pro- 
ceedings at the polls is that " everything passed quietly 
and peaceably ". " It was just like a picnic ", stated one 
witness. " The election was peaceable and quiet and with- 

' H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. 1, pp. 12-24. 
^ Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611. pt. 2, pp. 370, 382. 



-10 RECOXSTRUCTIOX IX FLORIDA 

out any intimidation, threat, or violence of any character 
whatever ", stated another from a county in which Republi- 
cans claimed that there had been violence and intimidation. 
" No man was prevented from voting as he pleased ". he 
continued. '' and there was no citizen of Alabama voted at 
said precinct, as far as my knowledge of the parties goes, 
and I have resided in the neighborhood 2/ years "/ \\". J. 
Purman, Republican Congressman, telegraphed a fellow 
Republican from Jackson County on election day : '' Election 
passing off gloriously. Ever}^body peaceable and unob- 
structed." - In this ver\- county, when it was found that 
the election had gone against them, the Republicans claimed 
that fraud, violence, and obstruction had been perpetrated 
by the Democrats. 

The election proceeded under the law of August 6th. i868. 
materially amended in 1S72. This statute provided for the 
registration of voters by the county commissioners and for 
the conduct of the election at each polling place by three 
" inspectors " appointed by the commissioners. The com- 
missioners were appointed by the governor. At the close 
of the polls the inspectors were required to '' can\-as3 '' or 
count the votes publicly at once. They were required to 
make out certificates in duplicate showing the result of the 
voting, to have these certificates securely sealed, and to 
deliver one copy to the county judge and one copy with the 
ballot box to the clerk of the circuit court. Within six 
days after the election, the county judge, the clerk of the 
circuit court and a justice of the peace, sitting as a special 
board, were to consolidate the precinct returns and canvass 
the votes for the county. Their finding was to be made out 
in triplicate, sigr.ed. and one copy sent to the secretarv- of 
state at Tallahassee, one to the governor, and one kept by 

^Sen. Rpts., 44th C. 2nci S., no. 611. pt. 2. n. 181. 
* H. Misc. Docs.. 44th C, 2nd S., no. 42, p. 434. 



THE ELECTIOX OF 1S76 71 1 

the clerk of the circuit court. The " Board of State Can- 
vassers ", composed of the secretary of state, the comptroller, 
and the attorney-general, would consolidate and canvass the 
votes for the entire state. ^ Such was the legal scheme for 
counting the votes cast. 

As the momentous election day drew to a close the pre- 
cinct officers prepared to give out the result. Before mid- 
night their announcements had been flashed over the country 
by telegraph. That tremor of excitement and uncertainty 
which soon shook the entire nation as a sick man with a 
chill began at an early date to convulse Florida. '' Laus 
Deo ", announced the Tallahassee Floridian. " Democratic 
Victory. George F. Drew elected. 2,000 majority for 
Drew. Startling frauds contemplated." " Senator Conover 
in Florida, however, complacently telegraphed George jNIc- 
Cormick of the Republican national executive committee in 
New^ York: " Hayes has carried the State "." 

Whatever the result had been in truth the pronounce- 
ment of the vote as a finality bade fair to be far from a 
simple matter. The phrase " Startling Frauds Contem- 
plated " was but a harbinger of the coming storm. There 
was about to develop in Florida a contest of affidavits, 
swearing, wits, and downright lying hard to parallel in our 
political history. The national election was very close. 
" The uncertainty of the result of the election in Louisiana 
and the uncertainty of the result in Florida produced the 
most intense excitement." * A prominent Northern Repub- 
lican telegraphed Governor Stearns. November 8th. — " Our 
New York dispatches make everything depending on 
Florida ". On the same day 'Sir. Chandler of the Republi- 

' Lazi-s of Florida, Aug. 6, 1868, Feb. 27, 1872. 

* Floridian, Nov. 14, 1876. 

'//. Misc. Docs.. 45th C, 3rd S.. no. 31, v. i, p. 527. 

* H. Rpts., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 140, p. 80. 



I 



712 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



can national executive committee telegraphed Malachi Mar- 
tin, chairman of the Florida state committee, — " Hayes de- 
feated without Florida " ; and Martin immediately tele- 
graphed the chairman of the Republican national executive 
committee, — " In order to prevent frauds we must have 
money. If Florida is important authorize me to draw on 
you for $2,000/ The New York Times early on Wednes- 
day morning, November 8th, after accounting politically for 
every State in the Union but Florida, concluded : " This 
leaves Florida alone still in doubt. If the Republicans have 
carried that State, as they claim, they will have 185 votes, 
a majority of one." ^ Political results in Florida for once 
had become of decisive importance in national politics. 

' Haworth, The Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election, p. 49. 
* The foregoing telegrams exhibited in H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd 
S., no. 42, pp. 434-435. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

The Result of the Election of 1876 

The situation in Florida being a critical one and the con- 
trol of the Presidency of the Republic for the next four 
years being involved in the adjustment of this situation, 
leading politicians beyond the state quickly showed a re- 
markably live interest in Florida's electoral troubles. Gov- 
ernor Stearns in Tallahassee telegraphed President Grant 
on November 13th, that " Eminent Democratic politicians 
are gathering rapidly here from adjoining states, and are 
expected from the North. I feel that I should have the 
counsel of eminent men in our own party." ^ 

On November 8th, the day following the election, W. E. 
Chandler left New York for Florida. He was a Republi- 
can of some prominence and went South at the behest of 
certain members of the Republican national committee." 
He reached Tallahassee on the 12th of November, and tele- 
graphed immediately to several local Republican bosses 
over the state : " State is close and you must make efforts 
to render every possible assistance. Funds will be on hand 
to meet every requirement ". He then sent a cipher tele- 
gram to Zachariah Chandler in New York, of the Republi- 
can national committee : " Send $2,000 to Centennial Bank 
of Philadelphia so I can draw for it ". Two days later he 
telegraphed in cipher : " Florida needs immediate counsel 

* H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 42, p. 438. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. i, p. 470; Haworth, The 
Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election, p. 54. 

713 



714 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

and help. Can you send $3,000 as well as $2,000 — making 
$5,000? Danger grave here." ^ The money was quickly 
transferred to Mr. Chandler.^ 

Governor Stearns professed to think also that the " dan- 
ger was grave ". He telegraphed the President of the 
United States for help. The Secretary of War, on Novem- 
ber 9th, ordered General Sherman to concentrate at Talla- 
hassee " four companies of soldiers at once ". " Telegraph 
Ruger to order troops to be at my disposal," stated a dis- 
patch sent to the governor on the same day by the Federal 
marshal at Pensacola.^ 

Leaders in the Democratic party beyond the confines of 
Florida exhibited about the same interest in the situation 
as did their friends, the Republicans. When Mr. Chandler 
reached Tallahassee, he found a number of " visiting Demo- 
cratic statesmen" ahead of him. His excitement was evident 
in his message to Mr. W. A. Clancy, of the Fifth Avenue 
hotel in New York. " Florida swarming with prominent 
Democrats," he telegraphed. " Send some Republican law- 
yers and eminent men." * He also telegraphed the private 
secretary of presidential candidate Hayes, to send to Flor- 
ida " Stanley Matthews and others of high character ".^ 
Chandler's request was promptly forwarded to Matthews at 
New Orleans, and a group of Republican " visiting states- 
men " of the desired high character, probably, set out at 
once for Florida. The group included ex-Governor Noyes, 

* H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 42, pp. 438-9. In the messages 
" Robinson " meant $3,000 and " Jones " $2,000. See Holden Rpt. to 
Pottir Committee, H. Misc. Docs.. 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, pt. 4, pp. 
325-85. 

' H. Misc. Docs.. 4S'h C, 3rd 3., no. 31, pt. 4, p. 471. 
' H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 42, pp. 435-6. 

* Ibid., p. 438. 

^ Ibid., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. i, p. 470. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 715 

of Ohio; Attorney-General John Little, of Ohio; John A. 
Kasson, of Iowa; and General Lew Wallace, of Indiana. 
General Francis Barlow, Republican, of New York, ar- 
rived a few days ahead of them. Barlow claimed that he 
visited Florida at the request of President Grant.' Ex- 
Governor Noyes was the intimate friend of Mr. Hayes and 
at the time it was considered that his presence was particu- 
larly encouraging to aspiring local politicians in Florida. 

The electoral situation in Florida was as follows: the 
face of returns as polled and announced by precincts gave 
the state to the Democrats by a small majority for both 
state and national tickets.- It was the object of the Repub- 
lican managers to prove fraud by Democrats in the casting 
or counting of the votes, or to induce by other means the 
Board of State Canvassers to refuse to count a sufficient 
number of Democratic votes to give the state to the Re- 
publicans. Although Radicals controlled the polling and 
counting of votes, the Conservatives had carried the elec- 
tion. Thereupon the Radicals who controlled both the final 
pronouncement on the vote and the national government 
sought to reverse the election. Stripped of hair-splitting 
this was the situation. 

Each party divided the state into groups of counties and 
put each group in the hands of attorneys stationed at Talla- 
hassee. Local leaders, Radical and Conservative, set about 
obtaining affidavits and other forms of evidence from indi- 

' H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. i, pp. 1361, 1398. 

' Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., r.o. 611, pt. 2, p. 17. Tilden presidential 
electors 24,441, Hayes electors 24,350. Drew (Dem.) State ticket 
24,661, Stearns (Repub.) State licket 24,119. This estimate is based 
upon the precinct returns as announced from the polling places. It 
therefore includes such fraudulent returns as that from Archer Pre- 
cinct, No. 2, Alachua County. The Democratic claim of 2,000 majority 
was based upon purged re' urns from .'\lachua and Jefferson Counties. 



7i6 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

vidual voters, precinct officials, and county officials to sup- 
port their respective cases before the Board of State Can- 
vassers when that body prepared to decide officially on 
Florida's vote. The obtaining of affidavits by both parties 
was wholesale — scores, hundreds, thousands piling up in 
the hands of political managers. All in all, it was an extra- 
ordinary and colossal exhibition of mendacity. Almost 
everything sworn to by one side, was sworn to in opposite 
fashion by the other. It is possible to prove almost any- 
thing by logically following good and selected sworn testi- 
mony. Sheafs of affidavits were gathered by Republicans 
from electors who could not sign their names, who were 
under the whip of unscrupulous local leaders, and who prob- 
ably never witnessed or heard of the affidavits to which 
they were reputed to have so glibly and solemnly " fixed 
their mark ". Even the " marks " from some were omitted. 
But all of this farce and trouble was taken to break down 
and change the announced result of the election — and the 
body to pronounce was two-thirds Republican. It was the 
Board of State Canvassers. 

This board met pursuant to law on November 27th, in 
the office of Samuel B. McLin, secretary of state.^ McLin 
was a native of Tennessee, and a one-time deserter from the 
Confederate army. The second member of the board was 
Dr. C. A. Cowgill, carpet-bagger from Delaware. He had 
served in the Union army. Both were Republicans.^ The 
third member was Attorney-General William A. Cocke, a 
native Virginian, an old resident of Florida, a lawyer of 
some repute, an historian, and a Democrat. Times were 
tense. As the three men took their seats about the table 
in the secretary of state's office on this particular Novem- 

^ Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 413. 
* An. Cyclo., 1876. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 



/^/ 



ber morning, they no doubt realized themselves to be the 
center of a political storm that swept far beyond the hori- 
zon of Florida. McLin called Cowgill's attention to the 
press copy of a telegram in a Baltimore paper signed by 
Cocke. The two men looked at the telegram and then bit- 
terly regarded Cocke. They passed it to him. It read : " I 
do not think the Radicals can cheat the Democrats out of 
the State ". Cocke, glaring at his two glaring friends, 
stated that his opinion had not changed.^ 

On its first day of meeting the Board of State Can- 
vassers did little more than adopt rules of procedure. It 
decided that visitors might be admitted to the sessions, that 
as the various county returns were announced, notice might 
be served that the returns would be contested, that the cases 
would be heard, and that no oral testimony would be al- 
lowed." 

The following day, November 28th, the returns for 
presidential electors were canvassed in the presence of the 
" visitors " and counsel for the two parties. As the vote 
from each county was announced notice was given by the 
leading attorney of one party or the other that the count 
would be contested. Every county heard from was con- 
tested in this fashion — the Democrats serving notice on ten 
and the Republicans on twenty-seven.^ Following the an- 
nouncement of the Presidential vote came that for state 
officials. 

County by county, during the week which followed the 
first sitting of the board, the returns were contested. The 
time was short. On December 6th, according to Federal 

' Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, pp. 413-414. 
' Ibid., p. 415. The rule concerning oral testimony was not ad- 
hered to. 
■' Ibid., pp. 418-423. 



7i8 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

law, the Presidential vote must be cast, and therefore much 
of the collected evidence, not worth its weight in paper for 
establishing the truth, but useful as a sham, was wisely 
passed over in a hurry. Issue was actually joined between 
Democrats and Republicans over fourteen counties, and of 
these fourteen, the counties which proved of deciding im- 
portance were Alachua, Jackson, Baker. Hamilton, Monroe, 
and Manatee. It became evident at an early date that ihe 
Republican case would be directed mainly to breaking down, 
and throwing out, if possible, the returns from Jackson 
County, and to establishing the returns from Alachua 
County.^ 

The canvassing board for Alachua County announced the 
county vote to be 1,984 Republican to 1,267 Democratic' 
Alachua had gone Republican in 1872 and 1874 by about 
800 votes.^ Both tickets in 1876 were more than 400 votes 
ahead of the returns in 1874. The Democrats in 1876 did 
not claim that they had carried the county. They claimed 
that their opponents had dishonestly added votes in certain 
precincts in order to swell the total Republican vote for the 
state. The greatest difference of opinion developed over 
Archer Precinct No. 2. The announced result there was 
399 Republican votes and 136 Democratic* The Democrats 
claimed that the ballots actually cast at Archer Precinct 
No. 2 gave them a majority, but that the county canvassers, 
who were Radicals, had dishonestly changed the true re- 
turns by adding 219 to the Republican vote. L. G. Dennis, 
the Republican chairman of the Alachua County board, 

' H. Misc. Docs.. 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. i, p. 1399. 

* .S"^;;. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., p. 24. 
' Ibid., pt. 2, p. 20. 

* Ibid., Doc. Ev., p. 25. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1376 



719 



afterwards admitted on oath that forgery had been perpe- 
trated to increase the Republican vote in this county.^ 

The proof offered by Democrats to the state canvassing 
board of fraud perpetrated at Archer consisted of a number 
of carefully-drawn affidavits and the original poll list. The 
most important affidavit was that of Samuel T. Fleming, a 
Democratic " watcher " at the polls. Fleming was a re- 
spected merchant in Alachua County, and claimed that he 
knew by sight the voters at Archer Precinct. He had been 
present at the polls all day and had methodically counted 
the voters as they cast their ballots. He affirmed on oath 
that the Republican report for the precinct was 230 votes 
more than the number who voted." If Fleming was right, 
the ballot-box had been " stuffed " or a miscount had been 
made. The Democratic counsel further presented the origi- 
nal poll list of registered voters signed by the Republican 
inspectors themselves. The poll list accompanying the Re- 
publican announcement of the returns was a copy unsigned 
and containing 219 names more than were on the original 
list.^ The Democrats claimed that these names had been 
fraudulently added to correspond with the Republican dec- 
laration of the vote. To clinch this contention a sworn 
statement was presented from one precinct official who as- 
sisted in making-up the precinct returns. He declared 
that 318 ballots had been found in the box from Archer Pre- 
cinct No. 2, and not 535 as announced by the county board. 
Furthermore, one of the county canvassers declared that 
the Archer Precinct return " had been clearly and conclu- 
sively proven, and shown to this board to have been fraud- 
ulently and falsely increased, changed, altered, and 
forged ".* 

* H. Misc. Docs.. 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. i, pp. 490-95. 

* Sen. Rpts.. 44th C, 2ncl S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 426. 

* fhid.. pp. 60-70, 177. * Ibid.. Doc. Ev., pp. 31, 41, 40, 53. 



720 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The backbone of Republican defense for this county con- 
sisted of affidavits from persons saying simply that they 
had voted at the election. On its face the defense was weak 
because of the character of the documents submitted. 
" Batches of affidavits " were submitted, " the text, signa- 
tures, and cross-marks all in the same handwriting, the 
names duplicated and the cross marks sometimes omitted 
— made by men so densely ignorant as to be unable to verify 
the truth of their statements ".^ 

Did fraud occur in Archer Precinct? If so, where and 
how? Did the alleged fraud in itself vitally affect the out- 
come in Florida? In regard to the last query, if the alleged 
fraudulent votes had not been counted, the Republicans 
would have lost the state. They needed them to win. The 
point of the Democratic contention was that fraud had been 
perpetrated not in the voting but in the announcement of 
the results of the voting. The point of the Republican reply 
was that the apparent " irregularities " in the Republican 
position were due to robbery of the ballot-box by Demo- 
crats before it reached the county canvassing board. The 
Republican precinct inspectors swore that their announce- 
ment of the vote at the closing of the polls at Archer Pre- 
cinct was 535, which corresponded to the pronouncement by 
the county board. Several Democrats present when the an- 
nouncement was made swore that the election inspectors 
had announced 316 votes cast. Somebody lied. Demo- 
cratic witnesses later stood the test of cross-examination 
better than Republican witnesses, and Republican officials 
afterwards swore that they had cheated. Most investi- 
gators will be inclined to conclude after examining the evi- 
dence in the case, that the fraud was perpetrated in count- 
ing up the vote of Archer Precinct No. 2 and that the 
Republicans perpetrated it. 

'^ Sen. Rpts., 44th C, no. 611, Doc. Ev., p. 11. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 72 1 

In Jackson County the face of returns as they were pre- 
sented to the state canvassing board was regular, complied 
with the law, and gave the Democrats a majority of about 
100 on state and national tickets/ The Republicans claimed 
that fraud and violence had been perpetrated by Democrats, 
and that such procedure had both deterred Republicans 
from voting and changed the vote in the ballot-boxes of 
two precincts after it had been cast. They claimed that in 
the Campbellton Precinct and the Friendship Church Pre- 
cinct either the ballot-boxes had been robbed by Demo- 
crats or many of the Republican votes cast had not been 
counted ; that the election officials had not complied with the 
law in conducting the election at the polls ; that one of the 
ballot-boxes had been " out of sight of the voter and the 
public " ; and that the final counting of the votes cast in 
Friendship Church Precinct had been irregular, careless, 
and conducted " two miles away " from the polling place.'* 
The last charge — i. e., counting the votes at a place other 
than the polling place — was substantiated by the proven 
facts in the case as set forth by the election inspectors them- 
selves. The evening being chilly and the polling room being 
without fireplaces or proper lights, the three inspectors had 
gone to count the votes in a nearby house, in a room which 
they swore was " open to the access of any person or per- 
sons." ^ 

Republican affidavits attempted to prove that the Friend- 
ship Church and Campbellton Precincts' returns were viti- 
ated by intimidation of Republican voters and irregularity 
of election officials. There had been no serious intimida- 

' Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., p. 164. Drew received 
I. .397; Stearns, 1,295. The Republican electors 1,299; the Democratic 
electors 1,397. 

* Ibid., pp. 165-260. 

» Ibid., p. 205. 



722 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

tion ; there had been some irregularity. The irregularity in 
question did not in itself indicate fraud. // the Friend- 
ship Church and Camphellton returns were thrown out, the 
Republicans would gain J75 votes and could carry the state 
zvithout altering the face of returns from the other coun- 
ties.^ The assault on Jackson County was, therefore, of 
peculiar importance. 

In Hamilton County, the Republicans charged the pre- 
cinct election officials with irregularity in canvassing the 
vote in Jasper Precinct No. 2. This precinct had given the 
Democrats a majority of 138 votes out of the 508 cast 
there. ^ The entire county had gone Democratic by 290 
votes out of 940 votes cast.^ The irregularity charged con- 
sisted in the adjournment of the precinct board before it 
had technically completed a canvass of the votes. It was 
also charged that legally unauthorized persons had been al- 
lowed to assist in counting the votes. The attack on Ham- 
ilton County was extremely weak. The face of returns 
was regular and gave the Democrats a substantial majority. 
There is no very credible evidence of either intimidation 
or fraud.* 

For Monroe County the Republicans claimed that the 
Democrats had won by fraud and violence. The Demo- 
cratic state ticket had received 1,052 votes to the Republi- 
can 970. The Democratic Presidential ticket had received 
1,047 votes to the Republican 990.^ The principal point in 
controversy was the return of Precinct No. 3 in Key West. 

* Compare tables of Jackson County precinct returns and state vote, 
Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S.. no. 611. pt. 2, pp. 18-19; Doc. Ev., p. 204. 

* Ibid., pp. 151-155- 

' Ibid., pt. 2. pp. 18-19. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 1st S., no. 10, pp. 59-75; 44th C, 2nd S., 
no. 35, pt. I, pp. 131-151. 

''Sen. Rl>ts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., p. 408. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 723 

The Republicans would throw out this precinct because of 
irregularity in the counting of the votes. The board had 
adjourned before the count was technically complete.^ Poll- 
ing officers were hungry and tired out by nightfall on No- 
vember 7th, and the more easy-going officials in Monroe 
County and elsewhere might well have put off formally 
counting and certifying votes until next morning. The claim 
was made by Democrats and even Republicans, however, 
that such irregularity was purposely arranged before the 
election in order to give the Republican county and state 
canvassers legal grounds for changing election results in 
their favor when such changes were necessary. 

In Manatee the returns were regular on their face and 
gave the Democrats a heavy majority. The Republicans 
claimed that the election had not been regular because the 
county officials had not complied with the law in revising 
the registration lists or in properly designating the polling 
places or in appointing the precinct election boards. These 
allegations were well substantiated ; but the Democratic reply 
was that the people of Manatee had been honest in their 
actions, and had been forced to proceed in irregular fashion 
in order to be heard, as the Republican state administration 
had refused deliberately to appoint a county judge, who 
under the law was the official to make preparations for elec- 
tions.^ 

In Baker County the situation was more complex. From 
that county three sets of returns had been sent to the con- 
vassing board at Tallahassee. According to the state law 
the county canvassing board was composed of the county 

"^ Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., p. 411; //. Misc. 
Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, rt- i, PP- 81-96. 

* Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., pp. 401-407; H. Misc. 
Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. i, pp. 97-110. 



724 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

judge, the clerk of the circuit court, and a justice of the 
peace. The judge must call the board together, and the 
board must convene and canvass within six days after the 
election. In case the judge or the clerk were unable to act 
the sheriff was to take the place of either. The judge in 
Baker County was a Republican; the clerk and the justice 
of the peace were Democrats.^ The judge, Driggers, call- 
ing a meeting of the board on the I3th,^ the last day pos- 
sible under the law, left the county. Baker County had 
gO'ue Democratic by a 140 majority out of the 380 votes 
cast. The clerk suspected that the object of the judge in 
postponing the counting, was tO' have the returns forfeited 
by not being canvassed within the legal time. He therefore 
met with the justice of the peace on November the loth, 
made up a set of returns, and sent them to Tallahassee. This 
was certificate number one.^ 

Judge Driggers in the meantime returned to Baker 
County, but on November 13th he refused to canvass the 
votes with the clerk and the justice of the peace. The 
sheriff likewise refused. Both Driggers and the sheriff 
were Republicans.* This day was the last day to act 
legally. The clerk and the justice, complying with the call 
of the judge but not meeting with him, because he would 
not meet with them, met, canvassed the votes a second time, 
and sent the returns to Tallahassee. This was certificate 
number two.^ 

1 Sen. Rpts.. 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, pp. 236, 239. 
I* Ibid., Doc. Ev., p. 77 ; H. Misc. Docs., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. 3, 
p. 69. 

* Sen. Rpts., 44th C., 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., p. 78; H. Misc. Docs., 
4Sth C, 1st S., no. 10, pp. 40-48; 44th C, 2nd S., no. 35, pt. i, pp. 284- 
300. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, ist S., no. 10, pp. 40-41. 

* H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, ist S., no. 10, pp. 41-42. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 725 

The judge on this day ordered the sheriff to take the 
place of the clerk on the county canvassing board, saying 
that " they [Republicans] were beat in the State and some- 
thing must be done " and that " he proposed to have a can- 
vass by himself ". The Sheriff inquired how he could ob- 
tain a justice of the peace tO' act with him. Driggers re- 
plied that " he had got it alright, that he had a commission 
for Bill Green as a justice of the peace "/ The Governor 
could create such ofificers at pleasure. Bill Green was a 
negro of the locality who for the occasion became a justice 
of the peace. 

The Republican judge and the purged and reconstituted 
board consisting of himself, the Sheriff, and Bill Green 
met, canvassed the votes, threw out completely the returns 
from the two important precincts which had been carried 
by the Democrats — because, said the sheriff, " ive heard 
there was intimidation " ^ — and declaring the vote of Baker 
County tO' be 130 Republicans to 89 Democrats sent the re- 
turns in to Tallahassee.^ This was certificate number three, 
and this was the certificate accepted by Republicans and the 
state canvassing board. If this third canvass were accepted, 
the Repiihlican party, on the face of the returns, zvoidd have 
a majority of the state's votes; if rejected and the Demo- 
cratic canvass accepted, the Democratic party zvoidd have 
a majority on the face of returns.* Thus the vote of Baker 
County was important in the legal scheme of things, and as 
Bill Green, negro, was the deciding factor in making the 
Republican certificate regular on its face. Bill Green nomin- 
ally played a telling part in electing a president of the 

' H. Rpts., 45th C, 3rd S., no 140, pp. 13-14. 
' H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, ist S., no. 10, p. 46. 

* Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S.. no. 611, Doc. Ev.. p. 76. 

* Compare with official statement of canvassing board, Sen. Rpts., 
44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, pp. 17-19. 



726 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

United States. Yet there is good reason to believe that the 
Radical state canvassing board in Tallahassee would have 
decided as it did regardless of Bill Green or even Baker 
County. 

What principle would be adhered to by the Board of 
State Canvassers at Tallahassee in determining the dis- 
puted returns? 

Under the state electoral law as amended February 2nd, 
1872, the board was given authority to omit a return 
from the count " if any such return shall be shown or shall 
appear to be so irregular, false or fraudulent that the board 
shall be unable to determine the true vote." ^ How far the 
canvassers might go in establishing the true character of 
the returns was not set forth in the law. Should the board 
exercise judicial powers, that is, go behind the face of 
returns as received in Tallahassee from the county can- 
vassers, throwing out only those county returns " irregular, 
false, and fraudulent " on their face? 

Precedent could be found for either interpretation of the 
board's powers, but, as clearly shown by Dr. Haworth, the 
latest and strongest precedent supported discretionary and 
not yninisterial powers." Attorney-General Cocke, who now 
sat as the Democratic member of the board, had rendered 
an opinion two years before that the state canvassers might 
lawfully go behind county returns,^ and acting upon this 
interpretation, the board had in 1874 used discretionary 
powers in deciding a disputed election.* 

The final arguments by attorneys — Republican and Demo- 
cratic — before the Board of State Canvassers, were pre- 
sented on December 4th. General Biddle of Philadelphia 

' Laws of Florida, chap. 1868, sec. 4. 

' Haworth, The Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election, p. 66. 

• Sen. Rpts., 44th C. 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, pp. 27-28. 

* Ibid., p. 5. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 



727 



closed the Democratic case. He claimed for the Tilden 
electors 23,034 votes against 21,767 for the Hayes electors. 
" If the return of Jefferson County is purged, as suggested ". 
he concluded, " there will be deducted from the Hayes vote 
952, which would leave the majority of the Tilden electors 
in the State 2,219 "-^ 

The Board of State Canvassers took final action on De- 
cember 5th and 6th. Cocke combated Cowgill and McLin 
on the more important points.^ The vote stood two to one. 
CoAvgill wavered several times in giving his decision. The 
board refused to throw out the returns from Archer Pre- 
cinct No. 2, in Alachua County, in the face of glaring proof 
of disgraceful fraud, but rejected entirely Friendship 
Church Precinct and Campbellton Precinct in Jackson 
County on less worthy evidence. It refused tO' accept the 
clerk's returns from Baker County, but accepted the Re- 
publican judge's returns with the two precincts carried by 
Democrats omitted. It deducted Democratic votes from 
the Hamilton County returns and threw out entirely Demo- 
cratic Precinct No. 3 in Monroe County, but refused to 
consider the same irregularities and more palpable fraud 
charged against Republicans in Leon County, Jefferson 
County, and Duval County. 

Tlie board did not use discretionary powers consistently 
in merely purging the precinct returns of dishonest votes. 
When to the advantage of the majority, precinct returns 
were purged, or when to the advantage of the majority 
precinct returns were thrown out entirely. The proceed- 
ings suggested strongly the simple principle of " tails I 
win and heads you lose ".^ 

1 Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, Doc. Ev., pp. 8-18. 
* Ibid., pt. 2, pp. 9-10. 

' See an interesting comment made after the canvass by Sam. B. 
McLin, H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. 2, pp. 98-99. 



728 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

The board canvassed the returns from twenty-six out of 
the thirty-eight counties on the face of the returns.^ The 
returns from the other twelve counties were changed ma- 
terially. It deducted 489 Republican votes from the twelve 
counties, and 15 19 Democratic votes. The reduction of 
the Democratic vote was as follows : 29 votes from Clay 
County; 236 from Manatee County; 404 from Hamilton 
County; 401 from Monroe County; 13 from Alachua 
County; and 436 from Jackson County. 

"At a little after twelve o'clock, Tuesday night (De- 
cember 6th), the board by a unanimous vote declared the 
State canvass concluded ", stated McLin. The Clerk was 
" ordered to prepare a certificate of the result ".^ 

By thus judiciously shearing down the Conservative vote 
the canvassing board announced on December 6th that the 
Republicans had elected their National ticket by a majority 
of 920 votes, the Governor by 458 votes, the Lieutenant 
Governor by 283 votes, the Congressman from the First 
District by 294 votes, and the Congressman from the Second 
District by 141 votes.^ 

The board adjourned after regularly issuing certificates 
of election to the Republican presidential electors, one of 
whom was a negro. On December 6th these electors met 
and cast their votes for Hayes and Wheeler.* On this 
same day the Democratic electoral candidates, claiming that 
they had been lawfully elected in spite of the pronouncement 
of the board against them, met and cast their votes for 
Tilden and Hendricks.^ Each group of electors forwarded 
its decision to Washington. 

^ Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, pp. 9-10. 

2/6;d., p. 10. 

» Ibid., p. 18. 

*Ibid., p. 29. 

* H. Rpts., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 140, p. 8. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 729 

The first chapter in the electoral contest thus closed 
with victory for the Radicals. Disgraceful dealing had 
gone on in Florida. Both Democratic and Republican 
" visiting statesmen ", some of them of reputed high posi- 
tion intellectually and socially, came to Florida in the 
interests of their party. Most of them, particularly the 
Republicans, succeeded before leaving in playing the parts 
of pettifogging and hair-splitting politicians and rank par- 
tisans. The Democrats were at least dealing with a better 
case in law and in fact. They had won the election on the 
face of returns and were able to show good proof of having 
won it fairly. 

Tlie record that remains of the activity of " visiting states- 
men " in Florida on this occasion plainly shows that most, 
if not all, of them were utterly unscrupulous in their ef- 
forts to achieve victory. Both groups received funds from 
beyond the state to aid them in producing political results 
within the state. Both groups kept up constant communi- 
cation through cipher telegrams with party leadei-s in the 
North. Both groups said in these cipher messages things 
which they could not say publicly then or after without com- 
promising somebody's personal reputation.^ The Demo- 
cratic agents attempted to induce Colonel Pelton — Mr. 
Tilden's nephew — and Mr. Henry Havemeyer oif New York, 
to bribe a Republican member of the State Canvassing Board 
by the payment of first $100,000 and then $50,000.^ Tlie 

* H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, pt. 4, pp. 325-85. Telegrams 
from Democrats asking for money, see pp. 345, 346, 350, 360. 

* H. Rpts., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 140, p. 72 ', H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 
3rd S., no. 31, pt. 2, pp. 221-246; pt. 4, pp. 176, 177, 352, 353, 357. 
Manton Marble and C. W. Wooley were the Democratic agents in 
Florida who exchanged the dispatches with Col. Pelton and Mr. 
Havemeyer. The former was acting secretary of the Democratic 
national committee. Pelton approved of the proposition but owing to 
dissension between Wooley and Marble the attempted bribing was 
delayed until too late. See Haworth, Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presi- 
dential Election, pp. 318-319. 



72>^ 



RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



Republican agents offered the Democratic member of the 
canvassing board a " foreign mission " if he would cease 
his opposition/ Probably payments of money by Republi- 
can managers and certainly promises of political office from 
the Republican administration helped the Republican can- 
vassing board to reach the decision it did reach and helped 
local party workers throughout the State to manufacture 
evidence for the reversing of electoral results where un- 
favorable.^ The Republican chairman of the canvassing 
board testified shortly after the election : " Wm. E. 
Chandler came to me and stated that if the State went and 
was canvassed for Mr. Hayes . . . Dr. Cowgill and my- 
self would be taken care of and there was no doubt of it ". 

Most of the Republicans prominently identified with the 
Florida case — whether in stuffing ballot boxes, falsifying 
certificates and poll lists, swearing to lies, or superintend- 
ing the case at Tallahassee in sanctimonious and high- 
minded fashion — most of such received substantial office. 
In political parlance they were " taken care of ". 

General Francis C. Barlow of New York became dis- 
gusted with his work before it was over. He confessed to 
his fellow Republicans that the Democrats had fairly elected 
the state ticket and very probably the Presidental ticket.^ 
Barlow lost favor among his fellow Republicans and became 
a suspect from that moment. " I cannot answer for the 
idiosyncrasies of Barlow ", said Chandler. Barlow was 
simply trying to be honest. He received no recompense 
from the Republican party. Mr. Chandler, himself, un- 
fortunately wrote a pamphlet reflecting upon Mr. Hayes. 

1 H. Misc. Docs., 4Sth C, 3rd S., no. 31, Pt- 4. P- 357- 

* For example see testimony 01 L. G. Dennis, IT. Misc. Docs., 45th 

C, 3rd S., no. 31, pt. 4, p. 555- 
» H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 3rd S.. no. 31, v. i, pp. 1362, 1366, 1369, 

1388; Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 4, pp. 12-13. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1S76 



731 



He received nothing. Mr. Cowgill of the canvassing 
board had wavered in giving his decision. He received 
nothing.^ 

On the other hand ex-Governor Noyes was appointed 
Minister to France; Mr. Kasson, Minister to Austria; Gen- 
eral Lew Wallace, Minister tO' Turkey ; Governor Stearns, 
Federal Commissioner at Hot Springs, Arkansas; John 
Varnum, a good position in the Federal land office; Samuel 
B. McLin of the state canvassing board, justice of New 
Mexico; Joseph Bowes, who stuffed a ballot box in Leon 
County and to escape arrest, fled the state, a position in the 
treasury department, Washington; R. H. Black, who helped 
forge the registration list in Alachua County, a position in 
the custom house, Philadelphia ; Thomas W. Vance, who 
aided Black, a position in the auditor's office, Washing- 
ton; L. G. Dennis, Republican boss of Alachua County 
who confessed to fraud, a position in the Federal treasury 
department ' — and so on. Little is to be gained by increas- 
ing the list of rewards. 

What happened in the case of the foregoing was logical 
and does not in itself prove reward for fraud perpetrated 
in Florida. The persons in question were Republicans, 
their party had gained control of the government and ac- 
cording to the fixed principles of party government as gen- 
erally practiced many of the offices of government are ap- 
portioned out as rewards for industry. There is some 
truth in the observation made at that time by a disgusted 
politician. " The American people," he said, " arrange 
themselves into political parties struggling in name to 
choose a President but in fact to control the enormous pat- 

* H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. 2, p. 118; also testimony 
of Cowgill and Barlow, v. i, pp. 1361-65. 
' H. Rpts., 45' h C, 3rd S., no. 140, pp. 21-22. 



732 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

ronage (in 1876, 110,000 offices) which the President when 
elected is obHged to distribute to his party because he was 
elected to distribute it." ^ 

Mr. McLin, the rewarded member of the Board of State 
Canvassers, afterwards said : 

At the time the canvass was made I was not at any time 
conscious of acting otherwise than right and proper. I en- 
tered upon the canvass with the conviction that it was my 
privilege and duty, in a political sense, to give the benefit of 
every doubt in favor of the Republican party. Looking back 
now at that time, I feel that there was a combination of in- 
fluences that must have operated most powerfully in blinding 
my judgments and swaying my action. The conclusion is irre- 
sistible that Mr. Tilden was entitled to the electoral vote of 
Florida and not Mr. Hayes. ^ 

Mr. McLin and others in Florida found themselves con- 
fronted by a pressing situation and not a simple theory. 
Engulfed in party passions they drifted with the stream. 
Self-interest prompted them so to drift. Men are apt to 
act in this way. " For the manner in which men live is so 
different from the way in which they ought to live," said 
Machiavelli to men of an earlier age, " that he who leaves 
the common course for that which he ought to follow will 
find it leads to ruin rather than safety. For a man who in 
all respects will carry out only his professions of good, will 
be apt to be ruined among so many who are evil." ^ 

However, any adverse judgment of the canvassing 
board's decision should be tempered by this fact, namely, 
that after the board rendered its decision which ultimately 
elected a president of the LTnited States, far more conclusive 

' H. Rpts., 45th C, 3rd S., no. 140, p. 64. 

' H. Misc. Docs.. 45th C, 3rd S., no. 31, v. 2. pp. 98-99. 

• The Prince, chap. 15. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 7-53 

proof impeaching its decisions was obtained by the House 
committee appointed December 4th, 1876; the House com- 
mittee of February 5th, 1879, and the so-called " Potter 
Committee of the House ", which reported in 1879. These 
committees examined and cross-examined hundreds of per- 
sons who had taken part in the election. The historian 
to-day is in possession of more conclusive facts than was 
the Florida canvassing board on December 5th, 1876. 

Mr. Drew, the Democratic candidate for governor, now 
appealed to the state supreme court through his attorneys, 
George P. Rainey, R. B. Hilton, and R. L. Campbell, for a 
writ of mandamus. He filed his petition for the writ on 
December 13th, claiming in it that he had received 24,613 
votes to his opponent's 24,116, and praying that the court 
order the board to meet and recanvass the vote according 
to the face of the returns received from the counties/ 

The supreme court immediately granted the writ of man- 
damus, which commanded the members of the board of 
state canvassers to reconvene and recount the votes on the 
face of returns.^ McLin and Cowgill, Republican members 
of the board, replied that the board had ceased to exist after 
the result of the vote was declared and that therefore the 
board being non-existent could not reconvene. They further 
stated that action had been taken after due consideration 
of worthy evidence and that the decision of the board was 
reached unanimously.^ This last claim of unanimity was 
wrong, and McLin and Cowgill knew it. The Democratic 
member. Judge Cocke, had voted against them in the cases 
of Duval County, Jefferson County, Manatee County, Jack- 
son County, Monroe County, Hamilton County, and Ala- 

^ Sen. Rpts.. 44th C, 2nd S., r.o. 611, pt. 2, p. 388. 
* Ibid., pp. 390-91. 
» Ibid., pp. 393-95- 



734 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

chua County/ Cocke now issued a statement favoring a 
recount of the votes on their face, although he had pre- 
viously interpreted the lav^ to give discretionary powers to 
the board. ^ He too was feeling the weight of party pres- 
sure by this time. 

The supreme court quickly put aside the quibbling of 
McLin and Cowgill concerning the existence of the board. 
The court declared that they had possessed no authority to 
go behind the face of the returns, stating that " whether 
irregularities or fraud in an election will authorize the re- 
jection of a vote cast is a question of law not within the 
power of the board to determine ".^ It ordered the board 
to reassemble and recanvass the vote for governor and 
lieutenant-governor on or before December 27th and in ac- 
cordance with the court decision rendered.* The board 
obeyed the court. Stearns, Republican, was given 23,984 
votes and Drew, Democrat, 24,179.' A shout went up from 
Conservatives in Florida. Through this pronouncement 
the executive branch of the government passed into their 
hands. The autumn elections had given them control of 
the lower house of the legislature. Since the murder of 
Senator Johnson in 1875 the Conservatives had controlled 
the Senate. Radical rule had ended therefore for the state, 
but the Republicans seated both Congressmen in 1876,*' and 
both the United States senators were Republicans. 

1 Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2. pp. g-io. 

*A}i. Cycle, 1876. 

^ Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, pp. 396-399. 

* Ibid., p. 400. 

* Ibid., Doc. Ev., pp. 400-1. 

* Horatio Bisbee, Republican, over J. J. Finley, Democrat; W. J. 
Purman, Republican, over R. H. M. Davidson, Democrat. Both 
Davidson and Finley preferred charges of fraud in the election and 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 j^^ 

Some people professed to fear violence at the inaugura- 
tion of Drew. Tallahassee was filled with a motley mob of 
blacks and whites more or less under the influence of cheap 
liquor and wild political talk. Would Stearns attempt to 
disregard the ruling of the supreme court? " He called a 
consultation of the ring chiefs at the City Hotel," says 
Wallace, 

and required to know from them whether they would support 
him should he maintain that he was Governor, the decision of 
the Supreme Court to the contrary notwithstanding. With 
one voice they all answered, " Yea !" The understanding was 
that all the colored people in the surrounding country should 
be notified that Stearns would be inaugurated on the 'iay set 
apart by the constitution, and they were notified accordingly. 
Some of the carpet-baggers doubted the propriety of defying 
a Republican Supreme Court, but the " Little Giant " [L. G. 
Dennis] declared that if Stearns did not hold on to the gov- 
ernment he would kill him. The day before Drew was to be 
inaugurated Stearns saw many strange faces in Tallahassee 
among the whites, and he began to grow pale and talk weak. 
The " Little Giant " now seeing that Stearns was about to 
yield up the ghost, went out and filled himself with the red 
beverage of hell and came to the hotel to murder him, and he 
would have attempted to do so if he had not been locked in 
a room and detained until he fell asleep.^ 

The Democratic governor-elect was peacefully sworn into 
office at noon on January 2nd, with due ceremony but amid 
considerable suppressed excitement.^ Several hundred 
white Conservatives armed with shot-guns and rifles were 

Finley was admitted to Congress after Bisbee had served most of the 
term. See H. Misc. Docs., 45th C, ist S., no. 10; H. Rpts., 45th C, 
3rd S., no. 95, passim. 

' Wallace, Carpet-bag Rule, p. 343. 
* Floriiian, Jan. 2, 1877. 



736 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

stationed in nearby warehouses during the inauguration.^ 
Governor Drew struck the fundamental note of the new 
period then beginning when in his inaugural address he de- 
clared : " A Northern man by birth and a Union man from 
principle, I recognize that the Democracy of Florida in plac- 
ing me in this position demonstrates their desire for a true 
and fraternal union of all sections of our common coun- 
try ".' 

Soon after the inauguration ceremonies the new secre- 
tary of state, the new comptroller, and the new attorney- 
general met as the Board of State Canvassers and recounted 
the votes for Presidential electors. They declared the 
Democratic electors chosen by 24,437 to 24,343, whereupon 
the Democratic electors cast their votes a second time for 
Mr. Tilden, obtained the endorsement of the new governor 
to their certificate, and forwarded their decision to Wash- 
ington.^ Three returns were therefore received at the na- 
tional capital from Florida — one Republican and two Demo- 
cratic* The only return which satisfied the provisions of 
the Federal and state laws was the one Republican return. 
It was regular in every respect, although dependent on un- 
scrupulous decisions by the Florida canvassing board. The 
Democratic electors who cast their votes on December 6th, 
the legal day, had received no certificate of election, and 
legally they were not entitled to vote. Furthermore, their 
certificate sent to Washington lacked the endorsement of 

* Wallace, op. cit., p. 344. 

' Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, p. 340. 

* Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S., no. 611, pt. 2, p. 409. The highest voie 
for a Democratic elector was 24,440; the highest for a iRepublican 
elector, 23,350. The lowest vote for a Democratic elector was 24,437; 
for a Republican elector, 23,344. 

* Ewing, E. W. iR., History and Lozv of the Hayes-Tilden Contest, 
pp. 46-65. 



THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1876 



72>7 



the governor. The Democratic electors who voted in Jan- 
uary had been declared elected by a legal canvassing board 
in a regular way and their certificate had the endorsement 
of the new governor, but the electors had not voted on the 
legal day, December 6th. They voted January 19th, 1877.^ 

Therefore, when the Electoral Commission at Washing- 
ton came to the Florida case in February, by a strict party 
vote but in accordance with a very reasonable interpretation 
of law and fact, it refused to go behind the electoral vote 
in Florida, and counted that state for Hayes.- Thus was 
Florida divided in 1876 between Democrats and Republi- 
cans. The state supreme court appointed under a Repub- 
lican administration was the chief factor in forcing the 
canvassing board, appointed by a Republican administra- 
tion, to turn the government over finally to the Democratic 
party. 

As the Reconstruction period is measured in terms of mil- 
itary rule and Republican local supremacy, this episode — 
the election of 1876 — marks the end of the period for 
Florida. Reconstruction had been a sad experience, and is 
not yet forgotten. For nine years the state was racked by 
political wrangling, violence, and mutual suspicion. " The 
first prerequisite of elective government is the mutual con- 
fidence of the electors," states Walter Bagehot. This is 
almost a political axiom. Certainly Florida lacked this pre- 
requisite during Reconstruction. The attempt to found a 
commonwealth government upon the votes of an ignorant 
negro electorate proved a failure. It was an injustice to 
blacks and whites. It made the Solid South. Crystallized 
political opinion in this Union or any other is the sure indi- 
cation of impendiiig trouble. The sure tendency in Florida 

' Sen. Rpts., 44th C, 2nd S.. tiu. 6ti, Doc. Ev., p. 402. 
' Haworth, op. cit.. pp. 223-238. 



738 RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 

and the other Southern states for many years now has been 
toward eradicating this trouble. The resolutions adopted 
by a negro political meeting in Tallahassee on the first 
Fourth of July following the defeat of the Republican party 
in 1876, reflect both the impending trouble then and the 
slow but sure tendency for peace since. 

" We are aware that recently in our State as well as 
throughout the whole South a political revolution has 
taken place," ran the resolutions, " and it is our hope that 
now the race issue in politics, with all its accompanying evils 
will pass away, and that intelligence and integrity will 
dominate without regard to color or previous condition." ^ 

^ Rerick, op. cit., p. 341. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 



The material for the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction in 
Florida is comparatively limited, fragmentary, and scattered. The 
most important collections of both source and secondary material arc 
to be found in the Congressional Library, Washington ; the State 
House, Tallahassee; the library of the Florida Historical Society, 
Jacksonville; the library oi Columbia University, New York City; and 
the private library of Mr. Philip Keyes Yonge, Pensacola. 

This monograph is based upon the follov\ang secondary vv^orks and 
sources : 

COLONIAL FLORIDA 
Secondary Works 

Averette, A. Unwritten History of Old St. Augustine (1565-1786.) 
233 pp. (Translations of Spanish documents.) 

Barcia, A. G. Ensayo Cronologico de la Hist aria General de la Flor- 
ida. 1723. 

Bartram, Wm. Travels tlirough North Carolina. South Carolina, 
etc. 1792. 

Brinton, D. G. Notes on the Florida Peninsula. 1859. 

Campbell, R. L. Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida. 1892. 

Darby, Wm. Memoirs on the Geography, Natural and Civil History 
of Florida. 1821. 

Dewhurst, W. W. A History of St. Augustine. 18S1. 

Fairbanks, G. R. The History of Florida. 7904. 

Fairbanks, G. R. Florida: its History and its Romance. 1898. 

Forbes, J. G. Sketches of the Floridas. 1821. 

Garcillasso de la Vega. Histoire de la Floride. 1735. (French trans- 
lation.) 

Hakluyt, R. English Voyages. (Maclehose Edition.) V. 12. 

Irving, T. Conquest of Florida. 2 vols. 1835. 

Lowery, W. Spanish Settlements in North America. 2 vols. 1901. 

Mann, F. A. The Story of the Huguenots. 1898. 

Mandrillon. Le voyageur en Amerique. 17S2. 

Purchas, S. His Pilgrimes. V. 12. 

739 



740 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Rerick, R. H. Memoirs of Florida. V. I. (Fleming, editor.) 1902. 
Volume I of this work contains a valuable compilation (of some 
411 royal octavo pages) on Florida's history from the end of the 
sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. No other 
work extant on the subject presents anything like the mass of 
facts, political and economic, here compactly brought together. 
The author wrote evidently after an industrious examination of 
Florida newspapers, state and Federal documents, and secondary 
works. Unfortunately he failed to insert footnotes or references. 
The study should be used with care because of its many careless 
and incorrect statements. 

Rochefoucaul-Liancourt. Trai^els through the United States. 1799. 

Shea, J. G. History of the Catholic Church in the United States. 
Vols. I-III. 1886. 

Simms, W. G. The Lily and the Totem. (Romantic.) 1850. 

Smith, Buckingham, translator. True Relations of a Fidalgo of Elvas. 

fPamphlet. The Impartial Inquirer. 181 1. 

ANTE-BELLUM FLORIDA 
Secondary Works 

Albrton, Ed. The Florida Wilds. 1906. 

Coe, C. H. Red Patriots. 1898. 

Cohen, M. M. Notices of Florida and the Campaigns. 1836. 

Fairbanks, G. R. History of Florida. 1871. 1904. 

Fairbanks, G. R Florida: its Ilistory and its Roinance. 1898. 

Flint, T. The History and Geography of the Mississippi I 'alley. 

V. L 1833. 
Fuller, H. B. The Purchase of Florida. 1906. 
Giddings, J. R. The Exiles of Florida. 1859. 
Gillett, E. H. The Presbyterian Church in the United States. 1873. 

V. II. 
Latrobe, C. J. The Rambler in North America. 1835. 
Moore-Wilson, M. The Seniinoles of Florida. 1896. 
Perrine, H. E. A True Story of Some Eventful Years in Grandpa's 

Life. 1885. 
Potter, W. The War in Florida. 1836. 
Rerick, R. H. Memoirs of Florida. V. I. 
Scott, W. A. Repudiation of State Debts. 1893. 
Shea, J. G. The History of the Catholic Church in the United States. 

V. in. 

Smith, Geo. History of Wesleyan Methodism. 

Sprague, J. T. Origin. Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War. 
1848. 557 pp. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 741 

Walker, John. The Branded Hand. 1850. 

Williams, J. L. The Territory of Florida. 1837. 

The History of the Location of Tallahassee. Pamphlet. 1903. 

Sources 

Published Works 

Long, E. C. Florida Breezes. See p. 13, n. supra. 

Murat, Achille. Ameri£a and the Americans. See p. 14, n. supra. 

Walker, John. The Branded Hand. 1850. 

State Documents 

Senate Journal. 

House Journal. 

Minutes of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund, begin- 
ning in 1855. (Fla. Histor. Soc, Jacksonville.) 

Hurd, J. C. Law of Freedom and Bondage. (Statutes on slavery.) 

Journal of the Proceedings of a C onvention to Form a Constitution 
for the People of Florida. 1838. 

Duval, J. P. Compilation of the Public Acts of the Legislative Coun- 
cil of the Territory of Florida, prior to 1840. 1839. 

Thompson. L. A. Manual or Digest of the Statute Law of Florida 
1847. 

Pa)nphlets 

Reply of the Board of Directors of the Union Bank. 1840. 
The Appeal of General Call. i860. 

Florida Railroad Guaranteed First Mortgage Bonds. 1857. 

Internal Improvement Bonds of the State of Florida. 1850. 

Magazines 

Hunt's Magazine, 1851, and passim. 
Banker's Magazine, 1859, and passim. 
De Bow's Review, passini. 

Newspapers 

The files of Florida newspapers issued before 1861 are mostly frag- 
mentary and incomplete, but much fuller than the files between 1861 
and 1876. The following files are to be found in the Congressional 
Library, Washington ; the Library of the Historical Society, Jackson- 
ville; and the private library of Mr. ,Philip Keyes Yonge, Pensacola. 
The most important journals for the ante-bellum period are the 
Weekly Floridian, Tallahassee ; the Fernandina East Floridian, and 
the Pensacola Gazette. 
Fla. Gazette (weekly. St. .Augustine), 1821, fragmentary. 



742 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

Floridian (weekly, Pensacola), 1821-23, fragmentary. 

East Fla. Herald (weekly, St. Augustine), 1823-26, fragmentary. 

Fla. Herald and Southern Democrat (weekly, St. Augustine), 1826- 

1842, fragmentary. 
Fla. Intelligencer (weekly, Tallahassee), 1826. 
Pensacola Gazette (weekly), 1827-53, fragmentary. 
Key West Register, 1829, fragmentary. 
Fla. Advocate (weekly. Tallahassee;, 1829, fragmentary. 
Fla. Advocate (weekly, Tallahassee), 1829, fragmentary. 
Weekly Floridian (Tallahassee), 1829-60. 
Fla. Herald (weekly, St. Augustine), 1830-48, fragmentary. 
St. Joseph Times (weekly), 1840. 

Fast Fla. Advocate (weekly, Jacksonville), 1839-40, fragmentary. 
Fla. Sentinel (weekly, Tallahassee), 1841-53, fragmentary. 
Star of Fla. (weekly, Tallahassee), 1841-45, fragmentary. 
Key West Gazette (weekly), 1845, fragmentary. 
Fla. News (weekly, Jacksonville), 1846-57, fragmentary. 
Fla. Democrat (weekly, Pensacola), 1846. 
Newport Gazette (weekly, Newport), 1846-47. 
Whig Banner (weekly, Palatka), 1846-47, fragmentary. 
Southern Journal (weekly, Tallahassee), 1846-47, fragmentary. 
Fla. Whig (weekly, Marianna), 1848. fragmentary. 
Ocala Argus (weekly, Ocala), 1858-9. fragmentary. 
Jacksonville Standard (weekly), 1859, fragmentary. 
Weekly East Floridian ( Fernandina), 1859-60, fragmentary. 

United States Congressional Documents 

Sen. Docs., 15th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 88, no. 100, no. 102. Jackson's 

invasion. 
H. Docs., 15th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 14, no. 119, Jackson's invasion. 
Ex. Docs., 15th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 82, Jackson's invasion. 
State Papers. 15th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 35. 
Ex. Papers, t6th Cong., ist Sess., no. 93, Purchase of Florida. 
Ex. Papers, 17th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 66. 

Ex. Papers, i8th Cong., ist Sess., no. 55, Purchase of Florida. 
Ex. Papers, i8th Cong., ist Sess., no. 156; 2nd Sess., no. )ii. Ex. 

Papers. 19th Cong., ist Sess., no. 115. Fla. Land Claims. 
Sen. Docs., 24th Cong., ist Sess., no. 199; 2nd Sess., no. 33. 
Sen. Docs.. 25th Cong., 3rd Sess., no. 241. 
Sen. Docs.. 26th Cong., ist Sess., no. 446; 2nd Sess.. no. 43. 
H. Docs.. 28th Cong., 2nd Sess.. no. iii. 
Sen. Misc. Docs., 30th Cong., snd Sess.. no. 58. 
U. S. Census, 1850, i860. 
H. Docs., 59th Cong., 2nd Sess.. no. 357, V. H (Const, of Fla.). 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 743 

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865 
Secondary Works 

Brevard and Bennett. A History of Florida. 1904. 

Confederate Military History. V. 12. 

Dickson, Mary Eliz. Dickison and His Men. 1890. 

Dunning, W. A. Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction. 1904. 

Fairbanks, G. R. History of Florida. 1904. 

Fleming, C. S. The Florida Troops in Virginia. 

Livermore, T. L. Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America. 

1901. 
Nicolay and Hay. Abraham Lincoln. V. III. 
Rerick, R. H. Memoirs of Florida. V. I. 1902. 
Robertson, F. L. Soldiers of Florida. See p. 94, n. supra. . 
Scharf, J. T. History of the Confederate States Navy. 1887 and 1894. 
Schwab, J. C. The Confederate States of America. 1901. 
Thomas, D. Y. Florida Finances. In Yale Review, Nov., 1907. 
The Navy in the Civil War. Soley, Ammen and Mahan. 3 Vols. 

1883. 

Sources 
Contemporary Accounts and Memoirs 

Gordon, G. H. War Diary of Events in the War of the Great Rebel- 
lion. 1882. 

Higginson, T. W. Army Life in a Black Regiment. 1870. 

McPherson, Ed. Political History of the United States during the 
Great Rebellion. 1864. 

Richardson, S. P. Lights and Shadows of Hinerant Life. 

Russell, W. H. My Diary North and South. 1863. 

American Annual Cyclopedia. 1861-1865. 

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Vols. I and IV. Century Co. 
1884. 

Civil War Papers. V. II. 

Diary of Gideon Welles. 1861-65. 3 Vols. 191 1. 

Rebellion Record. (Moore, F., editor.) 1861-1865. 12 Vols, passim. 

United States Official War Records 

Official Records of the Rebellion : 

Series I, vols, i, 3, 6, 8, 14, 26 pt. i, 28 pt. i, 35 pt. i, 35 pt. 2, 46 pt. 

2, 47 pt. I, 47 pt. 3, 49 pt. 2. 52 pt. I. 52 pt. 3. 53 pt. I, 53 pt. 2. 
Series II, vol. 8. 
Series lit, vols, r, 4, 5. 
Series IV, vols, i, 2, 3. 



744 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Official iRecords of the Union and Confederate Navies (Naval War 
Records). Series I, vols. 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. 

United States Congressional Documents 

H. Rpts., 36th Cong.. 2nd Sess., nos. 85, 87, 91. 
H. Ex. Docs., 36th Cong., 2nd Sess., nos. 26, 72, 85. 
Sen. Ex. Docs., 38th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 18. 
H. Rpts., 42nd Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 22, V. I. 
Report of Sect, of War (U. S.), 1865-66. 
Reports of Sect, of the Navy (U. S.). 1864-66. 
U. S. Official Directory, 1861. 
Congressional Globe, 36th Cong., 2nd Sess. 
H. Rpts., 42nd Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 22, V. I. 

State Documents 

Laws of Florida, loth, nth, and 12th sessions. 

House Journal, State House, Tallahassee. 

Senate Journal, State House, Tallahassee. 

Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention of the People of Flor- 
ida. January 3rd, 1861. 

Proceedings of the Convention of the People of Florida at Called Ses- 
sions. 1861. 

Report of the Adjutant General of Florida, 1862. 

Reports of the Treasurer and Comptroller of Florida, 1862-64. 

Florida Supreme Court Reports. Vol. XI. 

Papers of Public Men 

Moore, J. B. " Works of Buchanan." Vols. IX and XTI. 

Nicolay and Hay. " Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works." Vols. I 

and II. 
Milton, John, Governor of Florida, 1861-1865. Papers, MiSS. 

These papers are invaluable for a study of Florida during the War. 
Part of them are in the State House, Tallahassee (Supreme Court 
Library), and part in the house of Mr. William Milton, Marianna. 
They consist of a mass of letters, orders, proclamations, executive 
forms, reports, memoranda, as well as copies of the governor's mes- 
sages to the legislature. 

Seward, W. H. "Diary." Works. Vol. V (Baker edition). 

Newspapers 

Weekly Florida Union (Jacksonville), 1864-1865. 

Clippings from the New York Tribune, New York Herald, New York 
Times, New York World, New York Express, New York Sunday 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



'45 



Mercury, etc., which make up the " Townsend Library," Colum- 
bia University. This is an invaluable collection on the Civil War. 
Most of the journals had special correspondents with the Union 
armies. Some of these correspondents, as for instance Oscar 
Sawyer, were able men and their letters show a keen knowledge of 
what was going on. The correspondents also sent to their papers 
copies of many official orders and reports made on the field. Most 
of this latter material can be found in the Official Records of the 
Rebellion. 

THE RECONSTRUCTION ,PERIOD. 1865-1876 
Secondary Works 

Brevard and Bennett. A History of Florida. 1904. 

Cox, S. S. Three Decades of Federal Legislation. 1885. 

Dunning, W. A. Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction. 1904. 
Reconstruction, Political and Economic. 1907. 

Ewing, E. W. R. History and Lazv of the Hayes-Tilden Contest. 1910. 

Flack, H. E. Adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. 1908. 

Haworth, P. L. The Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election. 
1906. 

Herbert, H. A. Why the Solid South. 1890. (Pasco's article.) 

King, Ed. The Black States of North America. 1875. 

Nordhoff. C. The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of 1S/3. 
1876. 

Pierce, P. S. The Freedmen's Bjtreaii. (Univ. of Towa Studies. HI.) 

Rerick, .R. H. Memoirs of Florida. V. I. 1902. 

Wallace, John. Carpet-hag Rule in Florida. 1888. Both a second- 
ary work and a source. See reference to this work further on. 

Contemporary Accounts. Records, and Collected Documents 

American Annual Cyclopedia, 1865-75. 

Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia, 1876. 

Fleming, W. L. Documentary Historv of Reconstruction. Vols. I 
and II. 

Johnson, Andrew. Papers, MSS. in the Congressional -Library, Wash- 
ington. Very valuable for political Reconstruction from 1865- 
1868. 

McPherson. Ed. Political History of the United States during the Re- 
construction Period. 1871. 

Record of the Union Republican Club of Jacksonville. MSS. in the 
library of the Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville. 

Court Records, presentments of grand juries and miscellaneous papers, 
MSS. in court houses of Leon, Gadsden, Jackson and Escambia 
counties. 



746 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Wallace, John. Carpet-hag Rule in Florida. 1888. This study of 
Reconstruction by an intelligent negro politician who took an 
active part in State affairs is inore of a source work than a sec- 
ondary work. Its greatest defects are careless and confused state- 
ments, lack of any sort of literary proportion and marked bias. 
In spite of these defects it remains an invaluable work on the 
•Reconstruction period in Florida. In the first place, it contains 
about forty important documents relating to Reconstruction and 
Republican rule in Florida. These documents were collected from 
the Federal documents, the Florida House and Senate Journals 
and the local courts. In the second place, the work is full of 
illuminating though disgraceful local political gossip from one 
in a position to know what he wrote about. In the third place, the 
work was produced under the general supervision of ex-Governor 
Wm. D. Bloxham, Democratic leader and enlightened politician, 
who befriended the negro Wallace and aided him in producing this 
volume. Wallace was a staunch Republican, who admired Governor 
Harrison Reed, but declared that " the ascendancy of the Demo- 
cratic party to the State government in 1877 has proved a blessing 
in disguise for the colored people of Florida." 

State Documents 

House Journal. 

Senate Journal. 

Minutes of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund, passim. 

Florida Supreme Court Reports. Vols. 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15. 

Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention . . . held . . . Oc- 
tober 25th, 1865. 1865. 
Laws of Florida. 1866-76. 

Newspapers 

In Congressional Library, Washington : 

Florida Times (weekly, Jacksonville), October, 1865- July, 1866, frag- 
mentary. 

Weekly Florida Union ("Jacksonville), 1864-1868. 

In the library of Philip Keyes Yonge, Pensacola : 

Floridian (weekly. Tallahassee), 1866- 1876, fragmentary. A very val- 
uable source because of the character and activities of the editor, 
C. E. Duke. 

Files of the New York Herald, New York Times, New York World, 
and New York Tribune from 1876. 

De Bow's Review, 1866. 

Amarican Freedman. 1866. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



747 



United States Congressional Documents and Court Reports 

House Ex. Docs., 38th Cong., 2ncl Sess., no. 18. 

House Ex. Docs., 3gth Cong., ist Sess., nos. 40, 70. 

House iRpts., 39th Cong., ist Sess., no. 30; 2nd Sess., no. 34. 

Senate Docs., 39th Cong., ist Sess., no. 26. 

Senate Ex. Docs., 39th Cong., ist Sess., nos. 26, 27, 43 ; 2nd Sess., 

no. 6. 
House Ex. Docs., 40th Cong., ist Sess., no. 342; 2nd Sess., nos. 56, 57, 

297. 
House Misc. Docs., 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., nos. 109, 114. 
House Rpts., 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 30. 
Senate Ex. Docs., 40th Cong., ist Sess., no. 14. 
Senate Rpts., 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 440. 

House Ex. Docs., 41st Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 142; 3rd Sess.. no. i. 
House Rpts., 41st Cong., 2nd Sess., no. ^21. 
House Ex. Docs., 42nd Cong., 3rd Sess., no. i. 
House -Rpts., 42nd Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 22, vols, i and 13. 
Senate Ex. Docs., 42nd Cong., 3rd Sess., no. 32. 
House Docs., 43rd Cong., ist Sess., no. 6; 2nd Sess.. no. 7. 
House Misc. Docs., 43rd Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 16. 
House Ex. Docs., 44th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 30. 
House Misc. Docs., 44th Cong., ist Sess., no. 140; 2nd Sess.. nos. 35. 

42. 
Senate Rpts., 44th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 611. 

House Misc. Docs., 45th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 52; 3rd Sess., no. 31. 
House Rpts., 45th Cong., 3rd Sess., no. 140. 
Senate Rpts., 46th Cong., 2nd Sess., no. 440. 
House Docs., 59th Cong.. 2nd Sess., no. 357, v. 2. 
Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., ist Sess.; 40th Cong., 2nd Sess. 
Report of the Post-Master General, 1867-68. 
Reports of the Secretary of War, 1867- 1876. 
United States Official Register. 1867. 
United States Supreme Court Reports, 91 (Otto, Ii. 
United States Supreme Court Reports, 103 (Otto XTTT). 
United States Statutes at Large, Vols. 13 and 14. 
Official Records of the Rebellion, Series H. V. 8. 



INDEX 



Abandoned property, 381, 382 and 
note. 

Adams, Capt. H. A. ( U. S. N.), 
108, 109, 113 

Advertiser. Mobile, newspaper, 120 

Advertising and printing. Military 
control of, 465 

Affidavits, 711, 716 

Agitators, 326. 388. 445, 471 

Agriculturalists, 210, 214 

Alabama, 11, 59, 62, 92, 260, 451, 
454 

Alabama, troops from, jy, 79, 80, 
83, 85, 100, 119, 127, 308, 309 

Alabama, State f, property de- 
stroyed, 324 and n. 

Alabama, settlers from, 1 1 

Alachua County, 189, 195, 379, 427, 
431, 468, 494 n., 496, 514 and n., 
559. 569, 570, 580, 582, 591, 604, 
612 n., 640, 642 and n., 666, 669, 
677. 708, 715 n., 719, 731, 72,Z 

Albatross, U. S. ship, 206 

Alden, Geo. J., 477 n., 493 n., 548 
n., 54^552, S52n., 554 n. 

Allan, Mr., 640 

Allen, B. F., Sect, of State, 366 n. 

Allen G. B., 434 n. 

Allison, A. K., Gov., :^t,2. 3^3 n., 
334-336 

Allison, Mr., 579 

Alsop, Mr.. 278 n. 

American Aid and Homestead Co.. 

451. 
American Mission. Assn., 386 n. 
American Tract Society, 386 n. 
Amendment to U. S. Const., i^tli, 

411 and n.. 435, 438. 53i. ^?':^-- 

14th, 435-437. 53'-532: 15th, 61.:; 
Ammunition surrendered, 329 
Amnesty Oath, U. S., 360 and n., 

381 
Amnesty Proclamation, 274, 366 
Amos, Capt. (U. S. .\^, 300 n. 



Anderson, Ed., Adj.-Genl.. 44 
Anderson, Ed., 405 n., 45^1 n. 
Anderson, Maj.-Genl. Pattou. yC. 

iS. A.), 195. 226, 260 n., 264 n., 

265 n., 303 n. 
Anderson, Gen. R. H. (C. S. A.). 

127, 131, 138 
Anderson, Maj. R., at Charleston. 

74 
Anti-slavery sentiment, 244 
Apalachicola, town of, 24, 91, 144- 

146, 161- 164, 198, 202, 330, 338 n.. 

335. 360, 2>7.^ and n., 404 
Apalachicola river, 24, 144, 147. 453 
Appointments by the military. 463, 

464 and n., 465 
Appointments, Reed's, 534 and n.. 

535 and n. 
Appomattox, 324 
Apprentices, negro. 409 n., 419 and 

n., 422, 424, 425 and n. 
Army of Pensacola, 115, 117, 122 
Arrests, 432, 551, 570, 626, 630 n., 

640-642 
Arrests, military, 334, 335 
Arsenal at Chattahoochee, seizure. 

71. 72. 75 
Arabian Nights, The, 18 
Archer Precinct No. 2, Alachua 

County. 718-720, 727 
Archibald, Judge, 480, 481 and n. 
Archives, Fla., 336 
Aristocracy, 18-20, 29, 219, 343, 345. 

399. 400 and n. 
Arkansas. 451 
Armistead, L. C, 493 n. 
Arms. 50. 72. 89-92. 292-293, 328- 

329 
Armstrong, Capt. J. (U. S. N.). 

of Pensacola navy-vard, i86t. 

74. 76-78, 80-82 
Armstrong, Capt. ( C. S. A.), 260 n. 
Armstrong. O. B., negro, 493 n. 
Arnold. Brig-Gen. L. C. (U. S. 

A.). 168 

749 



750 



INDEX 



Artillery, 94, 276, 278, 281, 286, 289- 

290, 302, 322, 323 and n. 
Asboth, Gen. A. (U. S. A.), 224, 

257. 265 n., 307-312, 335 
Astor. John jacob, 121 
Asylum, Insane, 382 
Asvlum, Freedmen. Orphan. 384- 

385 
Atlanta, Ga., 464, 497, 509, 513 
Austin, C. H., Treas., 366 n. 
Austin, Mr., 654 n. 
Austria, 731 
Attorney, District, 254 
Avery, O. M., 434 n. 
Averette. Unwritten History, etc., 

10 n. 



B 

Bacon, 270 and n., 272, 329, 403 

Bagdad, 166 

Bagehot, Walter, 688, 737 

Bahamas, 197 

Bailey, Brig. Gen. J. (U. S. A.), 

2^2 n. 
Bailey, W., 191 n. 
Baker County. 468 n., 494 n., 499, 

718, 7^3-728 
Baker, Boiling, 636 n. 
Baker, J. G. L., 332 n. 
Baker, J. W., 332 n. 
Baldwin, Fla., 161, 186, 278 and n., 

279, 281, 284, 297, 304, 310, 329, 

653 . 
Baldwin County, Ala., 310 
Ballots, 1868, 491 
Ballots, marked. 1876, 697, 698 
Baltimore, 610 
Baltzell, Judge Thos.. 414 
Baptists, 19, 337 

Banks, ante-bellum, 22-23, 26-28 
Bank, Freedman's Savings, 382, 

391. 393 
Banks, 176 n.. 178, 179 and n., 545, 

656 
Banks, J., C. S. Atty., 195, 196 
Barbers Station, 286 and n. 
Barlow, Francis, of N. Y., 715, 730 
Barnes, W. D., 539, 611 and n. 
Barnes, J., 573 

Barrancas, see Fort Barrancas. 
Barrows, Rev. Dr., 235, 236 
Barry, Capt. (U. S. A.), 120 
Barton's Brigade (U. S. A.). 289 
Bartram, W., Travels in Florida. 

II n. 



Bass, A. G., 493 n. 

Bayard, T. F., Sen,, 585, 608 

Bayne & Co., 662 

Bayou Grand, 310 

Bayou Mulatte, 310 

Bayport, 309, 329, 498 

Bayuca, " He " of, 4 

tJaza, Mr., 232 

Beard, Col. J. (C. S. A.), 165, 234; 

Comptr., 388 
Beaufort, C. S., 391 
Beef, 186, 188, 192, 215, 268, 269. 

272 
Beauregard, Gen. (C. S. A.), 226, 

263, 271, 277, 282, 296, 297 
Bell, Lt.-Col, (U. S. A.), 238 
Benevolent Societies, 457 
Benjamin, J. P., Sec. of War, C. S, 

A. 145 n., 146, 147, 227 n. 
Benson, Sermons of, 18 
Bible, 320, 529 
Biddle, Gen., 726 

Billings, Liberty, 471, 473, 476 477 
and n., 489 and n., 490, 494 n., 
496, 499, 500. 514 and n., 522, 
523, 524 and n., 555, 610, 613, 624, 
666, 675 
Bimini, " He " of, 4 
Birney, Brig-.-Gen. Wm. (U. S, 

A.), report, 304 n., 640, 641 
" Birds of Passage," 476, 477 
Birds, common birds of Florida, 

6-7 
Bisbee, H., 472 n,, 477 n., 55^ n., 

690, 734 n. 
Biscayne bay, 652, 653 
Ballots, " galvanized ", 708 
Black, R. H., 731 
Black Code, 395, 405, 408, 418, 421, 

424, 433, 556 
Blackwater river, 166 
Blakely, Ala., supplies, 116 
Blair. Montgomery, 105, 351 
Blockade, the, 138, 152, 156, 162, 

163, 183, 197-202, 206, 313 
Bloodhounds, 261 

Bloxham, W. D., 539 n., 541 n., 556, 
619, 620, 625 n., 628 and n,, 629. 
(^'33- 635 
Bluff Springs, 166 
Boards, registration, 466 476 and n. 
Board of State Canvassers. 623- 
628. 715, 716, 717, 719, 726, 727, 
728, 729, 732, 733, 734, 736 
Board. State Equalization (tax). 
674 and n,. 765 and n. 



INDEX 



751 



Board of Trade, Jacksonville, 

534 n. 
Boggs, Capt. (C. S. A.), 112 
Bohio, U. S. ship, 207 
Bonds, railway, 657, 658, 659, 661, 

662, 670 and n. 
Bonds, State, 177, 178 n., S46, 600, 

631, 652, 654 and n., 655 and n., 

656 and n., 662, 667, 680 
Bosses, Radical, 666 
Boston Educa. Commiss., 386 n. 
Bowes, J., 700, 708, 731 
Bowers, Capt. H. W., 309 n., 310 n. 
Boynton, Judge, 353, 528 
Braddock's army, 292 
Braddock's Farm, 307 
Bradley, Justice, Fed. Supreme 

Court, 659 
Bragg, Gen. B. (C. S. A.), 103, 

107-113, 117, 119, 121, 127, 133, 

135. 138, 142. 143 n., 146, 149, 269 
Bradwell, W., negro, 494 n., 554 n. 
Bradford County, 43, 468 n.. 469, 

494 n., 591 
Brannan, Capt. J. M. (U. S. A.), 

71, 73 and n., 240 
Bravo, mayor St. Augustine, 159 
Brazil, 349 

Breckinridge and Lane, Demo- 
cratic Nominees, 45, 46 
Brevard County, 468 n., 494 n., 627 
Brevard, Col. T. W. (C. S. A.), 

229, 636 n. 
Bribery, 611-615, 659-665 and n., 

729 and n.. 730 
Brick, captured, 312 
Brinton. D. G., Notes, 11 n. 
British, occupation of Florida by. 

1763, 8; surrender of Florida by, 

1783, 9 
Brooklyn, U. S ship, 104, 105, 108, 

114 
Brosenham, Mayor of ,Pensacola, 

168 
Brotherhood. Lincoln, 473, 476 n., 

524, 562, 606 
Bronson. 329, 396 
Brown, John, Harper's Ferry raid, 

37, 42, 220 
Brown, Col. H. (U. S. A.), 104, 

107, 114., 128 n., 129, 137, 333, 334 
Browne. Acting-Master (U. S. 

N.), 207 
Bryan, H., negro, 493 n. 
Bryant, Wm. Cullen, 256 
Byron, H., negro, 559 n 



Byron. Lord. Works. 18 
Bryson, Judge, 560 n. 
Buchanan, Pres., 52, 71 n., 97-100 
Bullock, K. C, commissioner from 

Alabama, 59 
Bull Pond. 457 
Bureau, Freedmen's 377. 407, 422, 

423, 473, 486, 523, 524, 570 
Burke. Edmund, 693. 694. 687. 705 
Burning, 171. 173, 174, 279. 284, 304, 

305, 311, 315, 370, 594, 607 
Burritt, Mr., 158 
'■ Bushwhackers," 161 
Business, 331, 373 and n., 374 and 

n., 450 
Butler, J. W.. 451 n., 547. 548 



■Cabell. E. C. of Fla., 324 n. 
Cabinet. Governor's, 535, 549, 617. 

618 and n., 649, 650 n., 665 
Calahan Station, 486 n. 
Cale, land of, 8 
Call, Richard Keith. Governor. 

message on effect of Panic of 

1837, 26. 30; opposes secession, 

49-50, 243 
Call, Wilkinson, 69, 429, 434 n., 448, 

532. 537 n.. 539 n., 541 n., 640 n. 
Calhoun County. 43, 44, 465, 468 n.. 

493 n., 580, 582 
Calhoun, J. C, 517 
Campbellton Precinct, 721. 727 
Cameron, Sect, of War (U. S.), 

121 
Campaign, political, i860, 38-46; 

1868, 536, 538; 1870, 620, 621; 

1872, 639: 1876, 693-705 
Campaign contributions, 666 
Campbell, J. L., 493 n. 
Campbell, R.. Historical Sketches, 

iin. ; Commissioner, 80 n., lOo n., 

733 
Canada, 502 
Canals, 653 
Canvassing Board, State, see Board 

of State Canvassers. 
Capers, Col. (C. S. A.), 261, 262 
Capital, territorial, Pensacola, 12; 

territorial, St. Augustine, 12 
Carolinas, settlers into Florida 

from, 15, 20 
Carpet-baggers, 458, 474, 478, 482. 

496, 525 and n., 529, 534. 548 n.. 

502, 612, 630, 638, 689, 690 



75- 



INDEX 



Carse, Adj. -Gen., 549-551 
Catechism, negro school, 700, 701 
CathoHc, Roman, Catholic, 10, 19, 

162, 173 
Cattle, 164, 222, 260, 268, 269, 270 ;., 

280, 300, 301 and n., 305, 307, 309, 

312. 313, 329, 591 
Cavalry, Confederate, 94, 281, 284, 

286, 291 and n., 299, 304, 305, 308, 

310, 312, 322, 323 and n. 
Cavalry, Federal, 169, 276, 284, 306, 

309-311. 315 
Cedar Keys, 1861, 144 n., 145. 151, 

153, 162. 198, 202, 206, 233, 265 n., 

278, 304, 309, 310, 313, 396, 443, 

591 
Centennial Bank, 713 
Central Fla., 13, 17-20, 266, 270 n., 

278, 412, 485, 521, 524 n., 561, 566, 
681 n. 
Central Railroad, 657, 661 
Centre, 539 n. 
Cessna, W. I., 494 n. 
Chandler, A., negro, 494 n. 
Chandler, W. E., 711, 713, 714, 730 
Chandler, Z., 713 
Charity, 235, 378, 381, 382, 386 and 

n., 389. 397 and n. 
Charleston, S. C, 91, 92, 99, loS' 

277, 282, 451 
Charleston Convention, i860, 39, jo 
Charlotte Harbor, 265 n., 652, 653 
Chase, S. P., 273, 349, 349-353, 357. 

371 n., 375 n., 411, 471 n., 523 n., 

543, 545 
Chase, William, 55, 69, 79-81, 83, 

100, loi, 102, 104, 107, 168 
Chattanooga, Tenn., 356 
Chattahoochee, 91, 93, 373, 576, 653 
Chattahoochee river, 164, 193, 313 
Cheney, E. M., 699 
Chicago, 509, 536 
Children of blacks, 341 
Childs, J. W., 493 n., 499, 641 
Choctawhatchee bay, 197, 203 
Chipola river, 15, 311, 312, 569 

and n. 
Christie, W. H., 434 n. 
Churches, 19, 311. 383 n., 489, 490, I 
.524 I 

Cipher Telegrams, 714 and n., 729 
"Civil agent" of Bureau, 379, 380 | 
Civil authority, 190, 193, 196, 249 n., I 

354, ^57, 368, 405. 407, 426, 430, ; 

454, 455, 463, 466, 532 and n.. \ 

565- 578 I 



Civil rights of negro, 360, 363, 414 
Civil Rights Act, Federal, 429, 432, 

433, 436 
Clancy, W. A., 714 
Clay County, 468 n., 469, 494 n., 

616 n., 728 
Clayton, S., 277 

Cleburne, Gen. P. (C. S. A.), 226 
Clerk, 254, 535 n. 
Cloth, 191 n., 197 
Clubs, Democratic campaign, 538, 

621, 692, 695, 696 
Clubs, (Republican campaign, 700 
Club, Jacksonville Republican, 464, 

472 and n., 473, 474 
Club, Young Men's Democratic, 

561, 562, 563, 564, 566 
Cobb, Gen. Howell (C. S. A.\ 225, 

260 n. 
Coe, C. H., Red Patriots, 31 
Cocke, Wm. A., 449, 535 n., 550, 

556, 693 n., 716, 717. 726, 727, 7Z2. 

734 
Coffee, 197 
Cohen, Notices of Florida and the 

Campaigns, 31 
Coker, J. P., 572, 574, 575 
Cole, Mr., 232 
Colfax, S., 538, 541 
Colorado, U. S. ship, 126 
Colquit, Gen. A. }l. (C. S. A), 

282, 285, 288 
Columbia County, 379, 468 n., 487, 
• 494 n., 559, 569. 579- 591, 603, 622, 

627, 642, 695 
Cohiir.bia ( S. C. ) Telegraph, 451 
Columbiads at Pickens, 134 
Columbine, U. S. ship, 299, 302, 303 
Columbus, Ga., 91, 93, 164, 313 
Commerce, foreign, 197, 198. 201, 

202 
Commissary, Confederate. 187 t8S, 

191, 192 and n., 214. 265, 269, 271, 

313 
Commissioners, Fla., for receiving 

Fed. property, 1861. 80-81 
Commissioners, Fla.. 1865, ;iS2 n., 

334 . . 
Com.missioners, county, 188, kxi 

and n. 
Commissioner of Bureau, 379, 380 
Commissioners, Civil Rights, 433 
Com.missioner, Federal, of bank- 
ruptcy, 542 
Commissioner. Tax, Federal, 545 n. 



INDEX 



753 



Commissioners. Railway, of N. C, 

662 
Committee of Democratic Club, 

561, 564 
Committee, Democratic State, 637, 

688 
Committee, Republican National, 

,470,711 

Committee, Republican State, 577, 
689, 690 

Committee, Unterrified Tiger, 610 

Committee, House, on Freedman's 
Affairs, 451 

Committee, Reconstruction, 396, 
430, 431, 440 

Committee, Joint, of Congress 
("Ku Klux"), 558, 585, 598, 672 

Committee, Potter, 733 

Conant, S., 382 n., 624, 627, 640 

" Conchs," the, of Key West, 709 j 

Cone, R. W., 558, 580, 581, 605 n. 

Cone, W. R., 494 n., 496, 581, 601 n. I 

Confederate Army, 90, 94, 113, 114,^ 
122, 147, 161, 183, 217, 223, 225, I 
281 n., 283, 286 and n., 292, 296 ^ 

Confederate Government, 59, 65, 
91, III, 138, 143, 146, 148, 158, 161, 
186, 195, 20:;, 207, 216, 245, 253, 
261, 263, 268, 270, 329, 330, 343, 
346, ■"^2, 519 

Confederate notes, 180, 182, 183 

Confederate tax, 187, 188 

Confiscation, 238, 239, 250, 255, 295, 
359. 357 and n., 371, 381 and n., 
382 and n.. 384, 395, 426, 427 and 
n., 485, 486. 590 

Conflict, civil and military, 192, 193, 
194, 195. 196 

Congress, C. S., 192, 200, 221, 225 
and n., 227 

Congress. U. S., 99, 294, 319 n., 
391, 428, 437, 440, 4A<^, 450, 454, 
463, 465, 470, 477, 478, 483. 484, 
492, 512. 520, 522, 531, 532. 548, 
558, 584, 611, 629. 651, 652, 6-8 

Connecticut, 245, 287, 288, 290, 594 

Conover, S. B., 494 n., 644, 661 n., 
665 n., 689, 690, 691, 711 

Conscription, 95, 144, 212. 213, 223, 
246, 259. 261, 264, 267 

Conservatives, 407, 435, 440, 448, 
456, 459, 460, 469, 470, 479, 482, 
484. 485. 492, 493 and n., 497. 498 
and n., 515, 520, ;22, 529, 537, 
o.'^S. 585, 590, 597. 609, 649, 60 r. 
734 



Conspiracy, 543 n., 550 and n., 582, 

584, 616 
Constables, 533, 536. 570, 571 n., 589 
Constitutions of Fla., 1840, 26-28; 

1865, 364, 365; 1868, 511, 520, 522, 

648 
Constitution of U. S.. i, 375, 436 
Constitutional Union party, 38, 39, 

46 
Contracts, labor, 341, 376 n., 382, 

393-39S, 418, 420, 422 n., 423, 595- 

5'97 
Contracts, mail. 543 
Convention, Charleston, i860, 39-41 
Convention, Constitutional, 361, 

364, 410. 491, 492 and n., 493-495, 

500-515, 522, 524 
Convention, Democratic, 39, 40, 434 

and n., 470, 484 and n., 487, 537 

and n., 619, 688, 691 
Convention, Know-Nothing, 36 
Convention, Nashville, 1850. 35, 36 
Convention, Republican, 295 and n., 

472, 474, 476, 478, 536, 537, 618 

and n., 638 and n., 689, 690 
Convention, Tax-Payers, 1871, 599, 

619 n., 676 
Cooks, negro, and the elections, 

697 
Cooper Union, 256 
Corn, 164, 183, 186, 191, 215, 329 
Corporations, 651, 659, 670 
" Corps d'Af rique," 225 
Courts Federal, 254, 383, 405, 406, 

465, 58-, 586, 626, 671 
Courts, Florida, 188, 190, 193, 194, 

196, 358, 360, 363, 412, 417 and n., 

423, 426, 433, 463, 464, 534 and n., 

535 and n., 553, 556, 591. 595, 

604-606, 612, 626, 628, 635, 650 n., 

659, 668, 669 ,35 
Cowgill, C. A., 716, 717, 727. 730, 

731 and n., 732, 733, 734 
Cotton, 16, 17, 21, 32, 34, 164, 187, 

188, 197, 201-203, 210, 276, 278, 

280, 284, 295, 299, 301 and n., 

305, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 330 

and n., 331, 343, 373, 374 n., 302. 

397, 419, 435, 484, 594 
Cox, S. S., 617, 645, 680 n. 
Crawford, Sen. J. L., 669 
Crawfordville, 485, 539 n. 
Crippen, Paul, negro, 508 
Crop, share of, 394 
Cumberland Island, 154 
Currency, War-time, 182 



754 



INDEX 



Curry, J. L. M., 12 n. 
Customs, U. S.. 87, 198, 199 
Culpepper, J. W., 434 n., 535 n. 



Dade County, 468 n., 494 n. 
Dancy, Mr., 232 

Daniels, Episcopal Church, 19 n. 
Dartmouth College, 494 
Davidson, Green (negro), 458, 461, 

493 n., 495 
Davidson, J. E., 514 n. 
Davidson. Col. R. H. M., 434, 460 
Davis, Jefferson, 100, 119, 141. 200, 

227, 334 n. 
Dawkins, J. B., 434 n. 
Day. S. t., 35=; n.. 618, 627, 628 

630, 633-636, 665 
Deadman's bay, 197 
Debts, 245, 501. 679 and n.. 690, 684 
De Biedma, account of De Soto's 

expedition, 10 
Default on bonds, 453 
Delta, New Orleans, newspaper, 

117 
Democratic party, 27, 32, 36, 38-39, 

519-521, 527-529. 538, 539, 550, 

550, 556, 587, 616, 664, 717, 727 
Dennett, N. C, 472 n., 494 n., 507 

and n. 
Dennis. Mr. fU. S. Coast Survey). 

159 
Dennis, L. G., 477 and n., 559, 604 

n.. 624, 630 n., 640. 64T, 666, 718, 

730 n., 731, ^35 
Department of Justice, Federal, 

586 
Depot Keys. 265 n. 
Deserters, 244, 259 and n.. 260 and 

n., 261. 264. 267, 284 
De Soto, Htrnando. 8. 10 n. 
" De Soto Irrenressibles." 115 
Destitution, 1862-5, 189, 191, 192, 

201 n., 262 and n.. 26?. 279. 283, 

342, 378, 419 
Dewhurst. St Augustine, 10 
Dickinson, J. Q . 560. 574. 575 and 

n . 578, =;R2. :;83, 584 
Dickison. Cant. J. J. (C. S. A.). 

220. 232. 284 and n.. 302, 303 n., 

305 n.. 306, 307. 313 
Direct Tax Act, Confed.. t86t. t86 
Discovery of Florida. 1513. 4 
Disease among Southern troops, 

323 



Disfranchisement, 436, 469, 483, 

488, 499, 501, 509, 51 1, 513. 522, 

525, 526, 561 
Disloyal, 260, 409, 443, 444 
" District " of Bureau, 379, 380 
District of Florida, 454 
District, State senatorial, 469 
District, Third Military, 497 
Disunion, Democrats plan, 41 
Dockray, F. A., 535 n. 
Doolittle. J. R., U. S. Sen.. 429, 

5.32. 537 
Douglas. J., abolitionist, 43 
Douglas, Judge Sam., 460, 497 n., 

562, 605-606, 628 n. 
"^ouglas, Stephen A.. 36, 460 

le, Capt. J. A. (U. S. A.). 

314 n. 
Drew, G. B., 691, 692. 702. 711, 733, 

736 
Driggers, Judge, 724, 725. 726 
Dunham, Capt. (C. S. A.), 278 
Dunham. J. L., 434 n. 
Dunning, W. A., 688 
Dupont, C. H.. 232, 412 
Du Pont. Commodore (U. S. N.), 

15.3, 155 

Durden, Jesse, murdered by regu- 
lators, i860, 43 

Duryea. Col.. 71-72 

Duval County. 468 n.. 492 n., 494 n . 
514 n.. 727,' 733 

Dyke, C. E., 39 n., 40, 67, 449 n., 
512 n., 537 n., 539 n., 625 and n., 
626 

E 

East Florida, 10, 16. 20, 142, 147- 
149, 160, 161, 193. 194, 222. 228, 
230. 231. 236. 250. 253, 254, 257. 
270 n., 272, 277, 291, 293, 295, 297, 
20S. 313. 354, 355 and n., 360, 
434 n., 697 

East Florida Banner, 450 

Eau Claire. Wis., 523 n.' 

Education, negro. 235. 236 and n.. 
2-^7. ?8o. 382. 38i;-390, 421, 683, 
684 

Elections, 16, 17. 27, 32, 36. 46, 56; 
1865, 359 and n.. 360, 361 and n.. 
365. 371 n. : 1867. 455 and n.. 456. 
463; 1868, 491. 402 and n.. 403. 
497. 408 n.. 499. 524 5?8. 540, 61 T 
and n.: T870. 621-623, 629; 1872, 
639. 640; T874, 641, 642. 645; 
'876, 705-710 



INDEX 



755 



Electoral Laws. 667 n., 710 

Electors, presidential, 540, 547, 552 
n., 640 n.. 728, 736 

" Ella and Annie," blockade-run- 
ner, 202, 203 

Ellisville, 603 

Elvas, Gentleman of, 8 

Emancipation of Slaves, 236-237, 
240-242, 264. 339, 340, 344, 402, 

457. 673, 674 
Embezzlement, 547, 549, 551, 614- 

617, 631, 658 and n., 659 
" Emma," blockade-runner, 200 
Emploj'ees, 382 
Empire Mills, 306 
Enfield rifles, 131, 132 
Enforcement Act, Federal, 

584, 585, 626, 641 
Enfranchisement, negro, 376, 477 
England, 662 
Enterprise, 360 n. 
Episcopal Church, 19. S27 
Eppes, T. J., 40 
Erben, Hy., Lt. (U. S. N.), 75 n., 

76-77, 77 n., 79 
Erwin, A., negro, 494 n. 
Escambia river, 166, 168, 312 
Escambia County, 43, 44, 62, 373 n., 

427, 431, 468 n., 493 n., 381 n., 

521 n., 591, 708 
Eucheanna, 233, 311 
Eufaula, Ala., 164, 653 
Europe, 197 

Ewing, C. S.. Steamer, 127 
Ewing. E. W. R., 704 n. 
Ex-Confederates. 3^7- .366. 367. 

360, 400. 409, 424. 434, 456, 521, 

535, 5.37 
Exemotions, 213, 214 
Ex-slaveholders, 354. .355, 358, .365. 

366. 372. 4T2. 460, 556 
Ex-Whigs, 355. 535, ?-!o 



Factories in Florida, i, 33 and n., 
191 n., 211 

Fairbanks. G. R.. 8 n.. 9 n., 10 n., 
II n. 

Fairbanks. Lt. (C. S. A.). 193, 194 

Farm_ers, 186=;, 332 

Farragut. Adm. (U. S. A.), 

Farrand, Comd. (U. S. N.\ seces- 
sionist, 77 

Federal Army. 140. 286, 291 and n., 
202. 297 n. 



Federal garrisons, 1S65, 337, 338 

and n. 
Fees, Bureau agents, 380 
Fenton, R. E., 536 
Fernandina, 33, 38, 40, 145, 151 and 

n-, 153. 154, 156. 160, 162, 169, 198, 

202, 235, 254, 277, 280 n., 284, 293, 

351, 360 n., 371 n., 375 n., 384 n., 

385, 394 n., 427, 471, 486 n. 
Fifteen-Mile House, 309 
Fifteenth Amendment to U. S. 

Const., 615 
Fifth U. S. Artillery, 702 
Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York 

(;ity, 256, 714 
Finance, public, 544, 545, 597, 654, 

655, 672-674 
Finegan, J., 69, 170. 229, 231, 277. 

281. 282, 288 and n.. 366, 384 
Finegan, Camp, 303 
Finlayson, Dr., 568. 584 
Finley, J. j., 44, 642, 691, 734 n. 
Fire-arms, right to carry, 416, 419, 

422, 432 
First National Bank of N. Y., 656 
Fleishman. S., 576, 604 
Fleming, S. T., 719 
Fleming. W. L., 75 n., 392 n. 
Flint, Col. F. F. (U. S. A.), 398, 

44,3, 5o8,_ 531, 597 n. 
Florida, discovery and naming, 3-4 
Florida Canal and Improvement 

Co., 670 n. 
Florida R. R... 670 n. 
Florida Union, newspaper, 501 
Ploridian, Tallahassee, newspaper, 

2S5, 445-450, 474, 476, 488. 499, 

538, 711 
Floyd, Brig.-Gen., J. B. (C. S. A.). 

144 
" Flush Times," 25-26, 33-3'^ 
Food supply. 183. 184. 222, 265, 268- 

270, 276 
Food of poor whites in Florida, 21 
Fort Barrancas, 77, 103, 115, 135, 

165, 257, 307, 312, 4q6 
Fort Clark, N. C, 150 
Fort Clinch, 14S, 154, 170 
Fort Donelson, 139, 147 
Fort Hatteras. N. C, 150 
Fort Henry. Tenn., 139 
Fort Llodgson. 309 
Fort Jefferson. T05, 114 
Fort Marion, 72. 73, 160 
Fort McRee, 78 n., 79, 83 and n., 

T03, T18, 134, 136 



756 



INDEX 



Fort Meyers, 234, 309, 314 
Fort Pickens, 74, 77-80, 100-105, 
108, 114, 118-121, 125, 128-136, 

138, 307 
Fort Pulaski, Ga., prison, 335 
Fort Sumpter, S. C, 105, 106, 108 
Fort Taylor, 71, y2>, 105 
Fort Ward, 327 
Fortifications, Confederate, 297 

and n., 297, 301 
Fortress Monroe, Va., 150 
Fortune, E., negro, 493 n., 495. 558, 

559 and n. 
Forward, H. ri., 616 n. 
Foster, E. K., 535 n. 
Foster, Gen. J. G. (U. S. A.), 327 

n., 357, 379. 380, 386, 430, 431. 

443, 605 
Fourteenth Amendment to U. S. 
^ Const., 436-438, 531, 533 
France, 731 

Francis, T., negro, 579 
Franchise. R. R., 653 
Franklin County, 62. 465, 468 n., 

459 

Franklin, PL, negro, 570 

Eraser, P., 251, 274, 295 n., 354, 355 
and n., 356, 435 n. 

Fraud, 497, 498 n., 526 and n., 527 
and n., 623, 624, 631, 640, 645, 
656 n., 662, 698, 699, 708, 711, 
712, 716, 719, 720, 723, 724 n. 

Free Negroes (before 1865), 413, 

415 
Free speech, suppression of, 336, 

22,7 
Freedmen. marital and parental 

relations, 341. 342,^ 382, 383 n. 
Freedmen's Aid Society, 235 
Freedmen's Bureau, see Bureau. 
Freedmen's 'Relief Assn., 386 n., 

4-^3 
" Freedom," 341 
French, Maj. (U. S. A.), 248 
Friend, J., 521 
Friendship Church precinct, 707, 

721, 722, 727 
Fugitive Slave Lavv^, Federal, 36, 

27, 29 
Fuller, Purchase of Florida, 9 n. 
Founding Act, 1873, 680 



Gadsden County, 17, 55, 62, 189, 
465, 468 n., 469, 493 n., 499, 514 n.. 



521 n., 540, 609, 621, 622, 666, 669, 

677, 681 n. 
Gainesville, 42, 47, 91, 186, 304, 305, 

385, 388 n., 396, 460. 461 n., 486 n., 

539 n., 570, 618, 702 
Galbraith, J. B., 366 n. 
Gallow^ay, Capt. (U. S. A.), 434 
Gamage, Mr., 371 n. 
Gamble. Col. 'R. H., 399, 434 n., 

535, 549, 617, 624-627, 654-656 
Garcillasso de la Vega, Histoire, 

etc., 10 
Garrisons, Federal, 2>27j 338 and n., 

339, 370, 464 
L,azclte, Pensacola, newspaper, 108 
Georgia, 11, 15, 20, 269, 450, 451, 

453, 454, 456 n., 701, 709 
Georgia troops, 107, 114, 127, 281 n.. 

285, 287, 290, 296, 300 
Germans, 245 
Gerrymandering, 468, 469, 497, 

498 n. 
Gettis, J.. 434 n. 
Gibbs, J. C, negro, 494 n., 495, 551, 

558 and n., 559 n., 582, 584, 625, 

634, 683 
Giddings, J. R., The Exiles of 

Florida, 31 
Gilbert, A., 644, 666 
Gilmore. Gen. Q. A. (U. S. A.), 
274, 275, 276, 281-285, 292, 334, 

340 
Gleason, W. M., 452. 477 and n., 

323 and n., 546, 549 and n., 550- 

555, 612 and n., 624, 667, 675, 690 
Godwin, L., negro, 707 
Gonzalez House, 310 
Gold, 183 
Gordon, Fla., 570 

Gordon, Gen. (C. S. A.),263, 264 n. 
Gordon, Brig.-Gen. G. (U. S. A), 

302 n., 303 n. 
Gosport navy-yard. 114 
Goss, J. H., 494 n., 509, 535 n. 
Government, local, 533. 534. 535 
Government, U. S., 396 
Governor of Fla., 188, 189, 2>22 

and n. 
Governorship, Provisional. 1865, 

352, 356 
Graft, 403, 404, ^42, 543 and n., 546, 
^ 654, 666, 667, 678, 681 
Granbury, M.. negro, 575 
Grant, Gen. U. S., 139, 374 n., 497, 

498 n., 513, 514, 526, 536-541, 713- 

715 



INDEX 



/o/ 



Grayson, Brig.-Gen. (C. S. A.), 

141, 142 
Greeley, H., 323 n., 640 
Greely, J. C, 472 n. 
Green, Bill, negro, 725, 726 
Green, J., negro, 579 
Green, J. D., 541 n., 616 n. 
Grinnell, W. H., 355 
Grossman, Lt. (U. S. A.), 443 
Guerillas, 257, 258 and n., 267, 284, 

326, 338 
Gwatney, Lt. (U. S. N.), 109 



Habeas Corpus, writ of, 248 and n., 

368, 414, 432 
Hakluyt, English Voyages, 4 n. 
Hall, J. W., 521 n. 
Halleck, Gen. (U. S. A.), 274 
Hamilton, C. M., 477 and n., 523, 

534, 570, 583, 597, 611 and n., 

618, 619 
Hamilton County, 468 n., 494 n., 

560 n., 580-582, 718, 722, 727, 728, 

72>2 
Hamlin, Vice-Pres., 256 n. 
Ham.pton Roads, Va., 150 
Hancock, W. S., 537 
Harmon, H. S., 640 
Harriet Lane, U. iS. ship, 168 
Harriet Weed. U. S. ship. 30 
Harris, Col. A. L. (U. S. A.), 305 
Harris, J. G., 353 and n. 
Harrison. Col. Geo. P.. Jr., (C. S. 

A.), 288 
Hart. Comd. (U. S. N.), 206 
Hart, O. B., 434 n., 435 n., 467, 472 

and n., 473, 474-476, 489, 492 n., 

507 n., 514 n., 534 n., 535 n., 638- 

640, 664 
Hatch, Col. (U. S. A.), 260 n. 
Hatch. Brig.-Gen. J. P. (U. S. A.), 

297, 304 n., 305 n. 
Hatteras. U. S. ship, 152 
Hattie, steamboat, 299 
Havemeyer, H., 729 and n. 
Hawks, Mrs., 236 
Hawkins, D. C, 535 n., 654 n. 
Hawkins, G. S.. 434 n. 
Hawley, Brig.-Gen. J. R. (U. S. 

A.), 286 n., 289 n., 290 and n. 
Haworth, Dr. |P. L.. 726 
Hay, J., 102, 254, 275. 276, 294 
Hayes. R. B., 714, 728, 730 



Helper, H. R., Impending Crisis, 

37-38 
Hendricks, T. A., 537, 728 
Henry, Col. G. V. (U. S. A.), 278. 

280, 300 
Herald, N. Y ., 361, 368 
>jernando County, 468 n., 494 n., 

580, 581 
Herodotus, History, 18 
Hewling, A. H., 537 n. 
Hill, Benj., of Ga., 484 n., 693 
Hill, F., negro, 493 n. 
Hillsborough County, 468 n., 494" 
Hilton Head, S. C, 169, 276, 282, 

285, 356, 72>Z 
Higginson, T. W., 5, 172, 174, 228, 

230, 231, 234, 253 
Hobbs, L. M.. 387, 389, 423. 440, 

441 
Hogs, 260, 280 
Hogue, Mr.. 459 
Holden. Gov. W. W., of N. C. 

.303, 614 
Holland, 662 

Hollingsworth, Dr. W., 43 
Holmes County, 62, 468 n., 493 n. 
Holmes, T. O., 434 n. 
Holt. J.. Sect, of War and Judge 

Advocate General, 69, 335 
Homer, Iliad, 18 
Homeseekers, 450 
Homestead Law, Federal, 451 
Homesteaders, negro, 382, 489 n. 
Hopkins. A.. 434 n. 
Hopkins, Edward, 41 
Hopkins & Co., of N. Y.. 656, 662. 

663 
Horses. 278, 307, 312, 313, 329 
Hospitals, 116, 136, 137, 167, 185. 

382, 384 and n. 
Hot Shot, 138 
Hot Springs. Ark.. 731 
Houghton. II. S. ship, 303 
Hounds. 258 
House. Fla.. 437. 4,-^9. 615. 629, 631, 

643, 675 n. 
House, U. S., 429, 4,-^9. 440, 585. 619 
Howard, Gen. O. O., 376 and n.. 

384, 392, 397 and n., 402 
Howse, E. D.. 494 n. 
Hull, N. A., 691 
Humphreys. Gen. A. A. (U. S. A.), 

327 n. 
Hunter, Gen. D. (U. S. A."), 235, 

239, 240 
Husbands, black, 341 



758 



INDEX 



Illinois, 470, 481 n., 502 
Illiterates, 535 

Immigration, 13, 15, 450, 452 
Immigrant Aid Societies, 451 
Impeachment, Reed's, 545, 546, 548, 

550, 612, 613, 616, 617, 631, 632, 

635, 636 
Impressment, 186, 187, 190-193, 196, 

216 
Inauguration of Reed, 528, 529, 

543 n. 
Inauguration of Drew, 735 
Incendiarism, 418; see Burnings. 
" Independent Blues," 457 
Indian river, 198, 653 
Indiana, 416 
Indiana troops, 327 
Industry, 211; see Factories. 
Infantry, Confederate, 94, 281, 286, 

322, 323 and n. 
Infantry, Federal, 6, 15, 169, 173, 

276, 287, 289 
Injunction, 626 

Inland Navigation and Improve- 
ment Co., 667 n. 
Inquest, 575 
Insurance Companies, 355 and n., 

683 
Insurrection, slave, 220, 225, 226, 

229, 235, 418 _ 
Intemperance in Con fed. Army, 

116, 120, 141 and n. 
Inter-marriage, racial, 490 
Internal Improvement, 33 n., 66, 

652, 661, 671 
Intrusion of races, law, 419, 421 
Invasion, Federal, 150, 173, 220, 

250, 260, 2Q5, 314, 316 
Iowa, 31, 478, 583 
Irregulars, 590 

Irregularity, electoral, 721, 722, 723 
Iron, R. R., 193 
Irving. T., Conquest of Florida, 

10 n. 
Irving, W., Columbus. 18 



Jackson, Andrew, 11, 12, 22 

Jackson, W. E,, 657 

Jackson County, 17, 44, 45, 62, 189, 
311. 3.^Q- 379. 465, 468 n., 488, 493 
n., 4q8, 514 n.. 521, 539, 558. 559 
n.. 565. 566 and n., 570. 573-578, 



581 n., 582, 589, 596, 603, 604, 621, 
623, 630, 666, 677, 681 n., 706-710, 
718-722, 728 

Jackson, Gen. J. K. (C. S. A-), 270 

Jacksonville, 15, 92, 157, 162, 169- 
174, 202, 228, 229, 232, 235, 236, 
250-252, 255, 265 n., 276 2S4, 293, 
298-307, 354, 366 n., 273 n., 382 n., 
384 and n., 385, 391, 392, 396, 426, 
427 and n., 434 n., 443, 455, 460, 
461 n., 464, 471 n., 472, 476, 534 n., 
540 n., 546 n., 585, 591, 626, 634, 
637, 640, 653, 669, 699 

Jacksonville and St. Augustine R. 
R., 667 

Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile 
R. R., 657-664 

Jacksonville Union, newspaper, 446 

Jacobs, T., negro, 509 

jasper, 434 n. 

Jasper Precinct No. 2, 722 

Jay Cooke and Co., 655 

Jefferson County, 17, 260 n., 465, 
468 n., 487, 488, 403 n., 514 n., 
521 n., 621, 622, 666, 677, 681 n., 
695, 706, 715 n., 727 

Jefferson, T., Azotes on I'a., 18 

Jenkins, H., Jr., 477 and n., 494 n., 
496, 503, 510, 514. 547 and n., 548 
and n. 

Jews, 492 n., 576 

Jim Crow Law, 419 

Johns Island, 282 

Johnson, E. G.. 559. 560, 734 

Johnson, M., negro, 494 n. 

Johnson. Pres., 333, 335, 350-356, 
360, 363. 368, 428. 429. 438, 439, 
503. 504, 63i, 548, 552. 553, 565 

"Johnson party," 512 

Johnson, Gen. A. S. (C. S. A.), 
140 

Johnston, Gen. J. E. (C. S. A.), 
319, 325, 327 

Jones, Mrs.. Our Women in War- 
times, 325 n. 

Jones, Chas. M., 644, 645 

Jones, Maj.-Gen. S. (C. S. A.), 
302 n.. 303 n., 304 n.. 305 n.. 325 
n., 326 

Jones, Col. T. (C. S. A.), 165, 166, 
167 

Tudah, C. S. ship, 126, 127 

Judges, 379, 474 n.. 535 n. ; see 
Courts. 

Jupiter inlet. 198 

Juries, 419, 602 n., 603, 604. 681 n. 



INDEX 



759 



Justices of the peace, i88, 360, 417, 
535 

K 

" Kasions," 12, 115, 245 

Kansas, 36, 255 

Kasson, j. A., of Iowa, 715, 731 

Katzenberg, Mr., 554 n. 

Kelly, W. W., Lt.-Gov., 366 

Kent salt works, 207 

Kentucky, 2>Z 

Kentucky, Loyal (U. S.) troops, 

Key of the Gulf, newspaper, 70, 

247 
Key West, 72> and n., 144 n., 151, 

152, 237, 240, 247-249, 314, 351, 

353, 360 n., 434 n., 454, 471 n., 

586, 700, 709, 722 
Key West Dispatch, newspaper, 709 
Killed, 290 and n., 292 ; see Mur- 
ders. 
King, B., Commissioners from 

Ga., i860, 68 
Knight, A. A., 526 and n., 535 n., 

545 n., 640 n. 
Know Nothing party, 36 
Krimminger, J. N., 494 n., 496, 560, 

601 n., 666 
Kossuth, Louis, nephews of, 307 

and n., 308 
Kropotkin, Prince, Conquest of 

Bread, 216 
Ku Klux, 553, 558-564, 579 



Labor, free, 255, 340, 341. 393-396, 

417, 420, 452, 454 
Lafayette County, 259, 260 n., 261, 

264 n., 468 n., 494 n., 498, 560 n., 

580-582, 627 n., 666 
La Fontaine, 669 
Lake City, 271, 279, 281, 285, 305, 

329, 339 n., 369, 385 and n., 396, 

398, 443, 459 n., 460, 461 and n., 

489, 521 and n., 567, 579, 603, 622, 

640, 658, 676, 702 
Lake George, 299 
Lake Monroe, 301 
Lake Ocala, 207 
Lakes of Florida, 5 
Land, 14, 15, 26, 177 and n., 178, 

377, 451. 593, 651 and n., 653, 670, 

671, 696, 697 
Landlords, white, 696, 697 
Land-seekers, 382, 592, 594 
Lanier, Sidney, 5, 7 



Lansing, VV. £., Congressman, 585 

Larceny, 417 n., 418 

Lawlessness, 41-44, 298, 399 and n., 
330, 339, 344, 370, 371 n-, 374 n., 
395, 426-431, 444, 452, 456, 458, 
465, 486 and n., 516, 540 n., 541, 
543 and n., 544, 551, 553, 557-586, 
590, 591, 608, 621, 622, 682, 685, 
694, 695, 701, 707 

Lead, surrendered, 329 

Le Cain, Mr., 640 

Lee, J. A., 690 

Lee, Gen. R. E., 140, 147, 166, 319, 
325 

Legislature, Fla., 188, 190, 199 n., 
220, 223, 224, 3S3, 365. 395, 400, 
405, 408, 409, 412, 415, 422 n., 428 n., 
429, 435. 463, 529, 533, 537, 540, 
545, 547. 550 and n., 565, 613, 615, 
629, 631, 637, 641, 643, 649, 652 n., 
659, 664, 665 and n., 666, 734 

Leon County, 17, 62, 189, 427, 452, 
465, 468 n., 487, 488, 493 n., 514 n-, 
521 and n., 559 n., 561, 562, 599, 
616, 665, 666, 677, 681, 682, 700, 
706, 708, 727, 731 

Levy County, 427, 431. 468 n., 591 

Levyville, 313 

Liberal Republican movement, 637, 
638, 639 

Liberty County, 465, 468 n., 493 n. 

Lieutenant Governor, 554, 555 

Lincoln, Abraham, ^5. 66 n., 104, 
106, 108, III, 139, 235, 239, 240, 
242, 248, 250, 254, 256, 264, 272- 
276, 281, 293, 294, 317, 324, 325, 
338, 339, 350 

Lmcoln Brotherhood, 375, 376, 401, 
459, 473, 476 n., 562, 606 

Linly, W. A., 434 n. 

Little, J., of Ohio, 715 

Littlefield, M. S., 614 and n., 616, 
657-663 

Live. H. G., 332 n. 

Livermore, T. L., Numbers and 
Losses, 320 

Lobbyists, 506, 613, 614 

Logging, 164 

Lomax, Col. T,, of Alabama, 80- 
8t, 85, loi n. 

London, 662 

London, Jack, 225 

Long, Mrs. E. C, 13, 21, 22, 326 

Long, H.. negro. 707 

Long, T. T., 366 n., =;3S n., ';98-6oo, 
678 



76o 



INDEX 



Loss of life in the Civil War, 320 
Loss of property in the Civil War, 

319, 320, 324 
Lott, Luke, 556 
Louisiana troops in Fla.. 107, 114, 

127, 161 
Louisiana, 440, 451, 711 
Love, Col. C. B., Conservative, 460 
Love, J. B., 434 n. 
Low, A. A.. 355 
Lowery, W., 4, 10 n. 
Loyalists in American Revolution, 9 
Loyalists, 156, 350, 435, 475 n., 476, 

496 
Loyalty in the U. S., 354. 369, 370, 

432, 434 
Lumber, 165, 166, 276, 280 and n., 

295. 303. 3^3, 273 and n., 393 
Lumbermen, 244 

M 

Macdonald, W., Select Documents, 

8 n. 
Machiavelli, 600, 732 
Macon, Ga.. 326. 333 
Madison, Fla.. 539 n., 567, 702 
Madison, Wis.. 528 
Madison County, 17. 260 n., 427, 

431, 465, 468 n., 486 n., 493 n., 

514, 527 n.. 560 n., 569, 579, 581, 

591,594, 677, 690 
Magbee, J. T., 535 n., 617 
Magelle, 494 n. 

Magnolia, town of, 304, 305. 384 n 
Mahoney, Bureau agent. 398, 563 
Maine, 245, 477, 614, 657 
Maine troops, 311 
Mallory, iS. R., i, 35, 36, 51, 52, 53, 

60, 61, 69. 79. 80, 83, 86, 87 and n., 

loi, 102, 119, 141. 142, 169, 194, 

261, 334-336. 448, 456 
Maloney, \N. C. 434 n. 
Manatee County, 360 n., 427 n., 

468 n., 494 n., 718, 723, 733 
Mandamus, 628, 733 
Mansell, W., 4.34 n. 
Maple Leaf. U. S. ship. 275. 299, 

300 
Marble. M., 729 n. 
Marianna, Fla., 16, 91, 186, 233, 

261, 311, 312, 359. 453, 481 n.. 

539 n., 566-574, 578. 583, 584. 603. 

640, 702 
Marion County. 54, 55, 379, 468 n., 

514 n., 640, 677 



I Marriages, regulation of, 383, 416, 
420 and n., 422, 425 and n. 

Marshals, Federal, 254. 331, 341, 
I 360, 374, 387, 474 n., 586, 603, 626, 
! 640-642, 707, 708, 714 

Marshall, Capt. (U. S. A.), 284 

Marsha] law, 165, 431, 432, 577 

Martin, M., 576, 609, 712 

Martin, Wm., negro, 459 n. 

Marvin, Wm., 243, 247, 248 and n., 
335, 352-359, 362, 367, 369, 371 
and n., 376, 379, 409, 410, 412, 
429, 434 n., 440, 441, 449 and n.. 
464 n., 532 

Maryland, 470, 496, 502 

Massachusetts, 245, 300, 304, 380 

Massachusetts troops. 283. 477, 549 
n., 594 

Matthews, Stanley, 714 

Maxwell, A. E., 100 n. 

Maxwell, J. S., 434 n. 

Maynard, H., Congressman, 585 

3,Iays, Mr. 258, 323 

McCaskill, Sen. A. L., 669 

McClellan, Gen. G. B. ^U. S. A.), 
140, 151 and n. 

McClellan, Col. J., 572, 573 

McClellan, Miss Maggie, 572, 573, 
575 and n. 

McCormick, Lt.-Col. (U. S. A.), 
report, 304 n., 305 n. 

McCormick, Geo., 711 

McCook, Gen. E. M. (U. S. A.), 
326-330, 333, 336, 337, 428 n.. 457 

McDaniel. Mr., 566 

McFarland. B., " A Forgotten Ex- 
pedition." 116 and n., 122 

McGarr, U. S. A.. 113 

McGirts creek, 296, 298, 303, 304, 

333 n-, 334 
McGriff, Mr., 566 
McGuffin's Hotel. 552 
McKibben. J. L., 434 n. 
Mcintosh, McQ., 44, 57, 58. 247, 

248. 460 
McLeod, Ferdinand, 366, 434 n., 

640 n. 
McLin, S. B., 355 n., 716, 717, 727, 

734 
Meacham, R., negro, 493 n., 495, 

500, 541 n.. 548 n., 554 n.. 596, 

609, 666. 695 
Meade, Gen. Geo. G. (U. S. A.L 

497, 498 and n., 509, 513. 5L5. 520- 

526, 529. 532 
Meadeville, Pa., 523 n. 



INDEX 



761 



Meal, 403 

Meat, 266 

Meek, Atty.-Gen. A. R., 625, 627 

Meetings, political, after the War, 

485, 489, 491 n., 514, 521 n., 52211., 

538 n., 539, 576 
Meigs, Capt. M. C. (U. S. A.), 54. 

56 70 
Mellonville, 433 
Merchants, 165, igo, 197, 244, 280, 

2Z2, 374. 403 
Merrivveather, Maj. M. (C. S. A.), 

194 
Methodist Church, 19, z?>7 
Metropolitan Club, N. Y., 537 n. 
Middle Fla., 142, 148, 149, 222, 360, 

434 n. 
" Military Bill," 445 446 
Military rule, 191-193, 249, 340, 341, 

357, 368. 381, 404-406, 422, 424, 

425, 431-433. 454-456, 463-467. 

472, 473, 513-S15. 522 n., 530-533. 

539, 541, 586. 640, 702 
Militia, 80, 88-90, 95 and n., 114, 

143, 147, 544, 546, 577, 607 
Mill, John Stuart, 685, 686 
Miller, Mai. (C. S. A.), 269 
Miller, T., 707 
Miller, Brig.-Gen. Wm. (C. S. 

A.), i6s, 314 
Mills, A., negro, 493 n. 
Milton, Fla., 166, 186, 310, 312, ^^g 
Milton, John, 39 n., 40, 41, 46. 67, 

68, 142, 143 n., 146 and n., 148, 

161, 183 n., 184, 191, 192, 195, 

196 and n., 199 and n., 201 n., 

210, 212. 213, 222, 223, 229, 232, 

260. 264 
Milwaukee, Wis., 528 
Minorcans. Fla., 10 and n. 
" Minute Men," 43, 45. 53, 89 
Mississippi, 449, 451, 694 
Mississippi troops, 77, 79, 80, 83, 

85, loi. 107, 114, 119, 127, 167 
Mississippi, property destroyed in, 

324 and n. 
Missouri, 511 
Mobs. 32Q and n., 330. 456, 489 n., 

510 
Mobile, Ala., 91 
Mobley. C. R., 434 n., 494 n., 525 

n., 535 n., 548 n.,' 554 n., 624 
Molasses. 187, 188, 215, 270 n., 278 
Monroe County, 468 n., 494 n., 627 

n., 709, 718, 722, 723. 727, 728, 722 
Montesquieu. 677, 681 



Montgomery, Ala., 106, no- 112 
Montgomery, Col. J. ( U. S. A.), 

230 
Montgomery, D., 690 
Montgomery, Mr., 640 n. 
Monticello, Fla., 16, 91, 186, 21 r, 

213, 449. 460, 485, 507, 508, 509. 

511, 512 and n., 513. 515, 521, 607, 

622, 695. 696, 702, 706 
Moody. H. M., 537 n. 
Moody, P., 295 n., 355 n. 
Moore, A. B., Gov. of Ala., 70 
Moore, H. H., chaplain (U. S. A.), 

386 
Moore, T.. Poems, 18 
Morange, Mr., 554 n. 
Morgan, Col. (U. S. A.). 240, 241 
Morris Island, 282 
Mortgages, 671 
Morton, J., 62 
Mosquito Inlet, 198 
]\'[ot, Mr., 371 n. 
Mulattoes, 414 and n., 494, 495 
?/Iules, capture of. 301 and n. 
Murat, Achille, 14, 17 
Murders, 257, 418, 560, 564-583, 603. 

604, 607, 734 

N 

Napoleon, Memoirs of, 18 
Nashville. Convention, 35, 36 
Nassau County, 379, 468 n., 494 n., 

499, 521, 666 
National Loan and Trust Co., of 

N. Y., 656 
Natural Bridge, 233, 235, 315 
Navy-Yard, Pensacola. itS, 120. 

126. T27. 138 
Neaffle, C. S. steamer. 127 
Neemah, Wis., 528 
Negro, Civil Rights of, 360, 363 
Ne.gro enfranchisement, 351, 352,. 

410, 411, 429, 438. 4-12, 448, 449 n., 

455. 456, 458, 469 and n.. 470, and 

n., 477. 488 and n., 513, 615 
Negro office-holders, 534-5,^6. 588 
Negro troops. 224, 235, 289, 300, 

303, 304. 306, 308, 310, 312, 315. 

338 and n.. 339, 37o. 37i n., 374 

and n. 
Nezv Era. newspaper, 240, 241 
New Hampshire, troops from. 288, 

289 
New Hampshire. 477, 499, 502, 692 
New Jersey, 251, 532 



762 



INDEX 



Newmansville, 570 

New Mexico, 731 

New Orleans, La., 91, 652, 714 

Newton, Brig.-Gen. I. (U. S. A.), 

315 and n. 
New Year, 1866, 395 
New York, 108, 169, 245, 254, 2^6, 

355. 477, 515, 537, 545, 654, 655, 

657, 660, 661 and n , 713 
New York and Florida Lumber 

Co., 670, 671 
New York Daily News, 293 
New York Herald, 271 
New York Times, 410, 451, 712 
New York Tribune, 451 
New York troops, 121, 289, 308, 338 
New York Warehouse and Security 

Co., 656 
New York IV or Id. 293 
Niagara, U. S. ship, i7d 
Niblack, Silas, 628 
Nickels, M., negro, 575, 577 
Nicolay, J., 102 
Nitre, surrendered, 329 
Noble, Col. W. H. (U. S. A.), 305 

n., 306 
Nominations, party, 41, 366, 509, 

521 n., 523, 618-620, 638, 639, 689- 

691 
Norfolk, Va., 391 
North Carolina, 324 n., 402, 496, 

655, 656-659 
Northerners, 244-246, 478-482 
Notes, Treasury, 177-183, 362 and n. 
Noyes, Ex-Gov. of Ohio, 714, 715, 

731 



Oak Field, Fla., 167 

Oaths, formal, 152, 467, 491 

Oats, J., negro, 428 i.nd n., 493 n., 

495 
Ocala, 460 
Ocean Pond, 283 
Offices, Federal, 543 and n., 544 
Offices, State, 543 
Offi.cials, Confederate, 190, 191, 192, 

193 
Officials, Federal Civil, 350, 351, 

473 and n., 476, 504, 530, 543. 

599, 709 
Officials. State, 380, 533-536, 648, 

649, 666, 699 
Oliver, J. B., 526 n. 
Olustee, 233, 254, 271, 280, 283, 285, 

287, 291, 292, 293, 296 



Opdyke, G., 355 

Orangeburg (b. C.) Times, 451 

Orange County, 468 n. 

Ordinance of Secession, 64, 361 

Ordinance, convention, 1868, 501 

Ordnance Bureau, Confederate, 293 

Orlando, 538 n. 

Osborn, T. W.. 375, 378, 380-382, 
386, 389. 393-395, 400, 401, 405, 
473 and n., 476, 477 and n., 4h'9, 
493 n., 496, 503, 510, 532, 542- 
547, 555, 611, 614, 615, 630, 640, 
644, 655, 656, 667 

Ottawa, U. S. ship, 303 

Overseer, 211-214, 223 

Owens, J. B., 39 n., 40 



Palatka, 232. 235, 299, 302, 304, 
471 n. 

Panic 1837, 25-26, 30 

Papy, M. D., 332 n., 412, 434 n., 
459- 556 

Pardons, 436, 665 

ParkhiU, G. W., 58 

Paroling of Confederate soldiers, 
328 

Party, see Democratic, Whig, Re- 
publican. 

Pasco, S., 669 n., 682 

Potom.ac River, 688 

Patriotism, 347 

Patrols, citizen, 220, 221 and n. 

Patronage, Federal, 350, 542, 543, 

731, 732 
Pay, convention delegates, 1868, 

508 
Peabody, C. A., 355 
Pearce, C. H., negro, 493 n.. 496, 

502, 514 and n., 554 n., 559 n., 

638 n., 665, 666 
Pearson, J. W., 258 and n. 
Peas, 191, 215, 403 
Peeler, A. J., 412, 484 and n., 485, 

487, 537 n., 556, 636 n. 
Pelot, Mr., temporary chairman of 

secession convention, 56 
Peonage, semi-, 365 
Pelton, Col. W. T., 729 and n. 
Pemberton, Gen. J. C. CC. S. A.). 

148 
Pennsylvania, 245, 254, 477, 523 
Pensacola, Fla., 8-10, 16, 24, 53, 54, 

91-94, 99-101, 108, 109, 13s, 144, 

145, 164-169, 182, 233, 307, 308, 

338 n., 360 n., 40s, 434 n., 453, 456 



INDEX 



763 



and n., 471 n., 481 n., 489, 521 

and n., 549, 563 and n., 652, 653, 

658, 702, 708, 714 
Pensacola and Georgia Railroad, 

658 
Pensacola bay, 107, 117, 121. 138, 

148, 167, 311 
Pensacola, Jacksonville, and Mobile 

R. R., 615 
Perdido, 708 
Perdido bay, 116 
Perdido river, 310 
Perrine, H., 31 n. 
Perry, M. S., 37. 45, 48, 49- 53. 61, 

63, 69, 70-73, 88, 89, 92, 94, 142 
Petition on provisional governor- 
ship, 186s, 355 
" Pet Lambs," 121 
Picnic, negro. 457-458, 459 
Picolata. 300, 307 
Pierce, S. J.. 494 n. 
Pittman, F. F., 434 n. 
Physicians, 213, 244 
Phillips. Wendell, 485 
Philadelphia, 434, 713, 731 
Planters, Southern, 340. 341, 344, 

381, 389, 394. 396, 390. 597 
Plantz, H. G., 535 n., 589 
Platforms, political, 1876, 692, 693 
Plato, 321 
Police, secret, 544 
Polk County, 468 n., 494 n. 
Polls, 622, 623, 629, 642, 643, 705- 

707 
Pollard, Ed., 319, 328 
Ponce De Leon, 4, 8 
Poorhouse, 682, 684 
Poor whites, 21, 22, 29, 50, 51, 399, 

400 and n. 
Pooser, R., negro, 559 n. 
Pope, Maj.-Gen. John (U. S. A.), 

284, 454, 455, 463, 464, 466, 467, 

469, 475, 491, 497 and n., 512 
Population, 88 n., 218, 283 and n., 

451, 469, 470 and n., 483, 583 
Pork, 186, 188, 215, 270 and n. 
Porter, Admiral D. fU. S. N.), 

167, 168 
Port Royal. S. C. 150, 151, I53, 275 
Post Offices. U. S., 86-87, 332, 463. 

474 n., 503, 543 
Potatoes, 215 

Potter, The War in Florida. 31 
" [Potter Committee," 733 
Powhatan, U. S. ship, 114 
iPowell, Sergeant (U. S. A.), 72 



Powell, J. W., 493 n. 

Preachers, 165, 213, 336, 2,2>7, 3''J9. 
457. 496, 497, 665 

Precinct No. 3, Key West, 722, 727 

Prejudice. 406, 409 

Presbyterian Church, 19, 39, 495 

President, U. S., 99, 102, 103, 106, 
23^, 337. 364. 377, 399, 409, 4^8, 
430, 432, 439, 448, 541, 564 

Presidential electors, 541, 715 n. 

Press, The Northern, 293 

Price, J. W., 355 n., 535 n. 

iPrices, 186 

Princeton Theological Seminary, 

494 
Printing, 508, 650 
Prison, State, 681, 684 
Probate, judges of, 188, 190 
Processions, negro, 237, 402, 428 n., 

457. 538-540 
Property, 34, 53, 381, 382 and n., 

651 and n., 673, 676, 677 
Property-holders, 597. 600. 683 
Proscription, political. 1867, 467, 

468 
Public opinion, 346, 349, 367, 371, 

398, 442. 444, 447 
j Purchas, Samuel, 4 and n. 
I Purchase of Florida, 11 and n. 
Purman, W. L, 403, 477 and n., 493. 

496, 502, 503, 560, 561, 565 n., 567 

and n., 568, 571, 577, 584, 604, 

608, 624, 630, 638 n., 639, 640, 643, 

666, 675, 689, 710, 734 n. 
Putnam, E. A., 366 n. 
Putnam County, 467 n.. 468 n., 

494 n. 

Q 

Quincy. 16. 39. 41. 91. 186, 268, 271. 

385, 374 n., 427. 453, 481 n., 488 

n., 489. 520, 521, 609, 622, 626, 

640, 653, 658, 702 
Quincy Comnionzvealth, newspaper, 

447 
Quorum, 1868, 554,. 555 
Quo warranto, against Gleason, 555 

R 

Race War, 426, 457, 458, 486, 563, 

573-577. 579, 587 
Raiding, 171, 173, 232, 233 and n., 
260, 277-279, 284, 301, 303-306, 

309-311 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 3 
Ramah. a voice in, 320 



764 



INDEX 



Ranibauer, R. T., 494 n. 
Randall, Judge E. IvL, 534, 035 
Randall, Thos., 352, 434 n., 484 n., 

537 n. 
Randolph, Capt., of Ala., 80 n., 81, 

84 
Raney, G. P., 613, 616 n., 636 n., 

733 

Rangers, 258 and n., 259 

Ranjel, account of De Soto's expe- 
dition, 10 n. 

Rape, 418, 42 J. 486 n. 

Rations, 283, 284, ;iyS, 3S2, 403 

"'Rebels." 344, 346, 505 

Recks, J. W., 431 n., 440-442, 480 n. 

Reconstruction, 172, 252, 255, 272, 
275, 349. 359, 372 

" Reconstruction Committee," 440- 
442 

Reconstruction Acts, 440, 446, 447, 
450. 454, 455, 464, 466. 470, 474, 
478, 483. 512. 525 

Recruitment, 91, 93-95, 295 

Reed, -H., 272 n., 351-353, 355 n., 
363 n., 471 n., 473. 477 and n., 
503, 523. 526-535, =41-556. 559 n., 
565. 567, 577, 578, 612.- 613, 615, 
617, 629-638, 650-656, 660, 668, 
671, 677. 679 and n.. 684 

Reeve's Bluff, 313 

■Reform, 703 

Refugees, 265, 284 

Registration. 360 and n., 401 n., 
447, 466, 470, 474, 488, 491 and n., 
526 and n., 528, 541, 704, 719 

Regulators. 43-44, 158, 541, 563, 
568, 573, 668 n.. 694, 695, 704, 706 

Removals bj' military, 464, 612 n. 

Renshaw, Lt. (U. S. N.). 75 n. 

Reorganization. 346 

Repeaters. 1876. 706 

Representation, 511 

Republican Club, Jacksonville. 472 
and n.. 473, 474 

Refiiblican, Sm'annah. newspaper, 

369- .493 

Repudiation of debts, 358, 360. 362 
and n., 363 

Rer'ck, R. H., Memoirs of Flor- 
ida. 10 n.. 626. 627 

Resisjnations, 247. 248 n. 

Retrenchment. 620 

Rhode Island. 254 

Rhodes. J. F.. 3 

Ricco's Bluffs, 164 

Richards, Dan., 470-472, 447 and n.. 



489, 493 n-, 496, 499-504, 509 and 
n., 510, 514 and n., 522, 523, 555, 
610 
Richards. J. C, 494 n. 
Richardson, S. P., Lights and 

Shadoivs, 326 n. 
Richmond, U. S. ship, 134 
Richtnond, Examiner, newspaper, 

294 
Ricks, J. W., 382 n., 525 n. 
'■ Rings," Republican, 352, 515, 689, 

690 
Rio Grande river. 688 
Riot, 27, 575 

Road, St. Augustine, 16, 25 
Robbery, 418 

Rogers, Congressman, 440 
Roberts, R. W., 640 
Robertson, F. L., Soldiers of Flor- 
ida, 94 n., 322 n. 
I Robertson, William. Historical 
I works of, 18 

1 Robinson, C. L., 251, 295 n., 353, 
I 355 n., 356, 435 n., 472 n., 473, 528 

Robinson, S., 505 
I Robinson's Spring. 571 
I Rodgers. G. W. (U. S. N.). 159, 
i 160 

' Rogers, C, negro, 571 and n.. 572, 
! 575 n., 577 
j Rogers. St. G., 539 n. 
I Rogers, W., 494 n. 
I Rollin's Ancient History, 18 
Roundtree, D., negro. 559 n. 
Rowley, L. W., 493 n. 
Ruffin, E.. Commissioner from Vir- 
ginia, 59 
Ruger, Gen., (U. iS. A.), 702. 7030. 
Ruskin, John. 322 
Russell, W. H., war correspondent, 

103. 117, 120, 121 
Rutledge. Rt, Rev. Bish., 57 



Sabine. U. S. ship, no 
Salaries, 380, 543. 545, 648-650 
Sale of propertv for debt, 30, 501, 

657. 658, 678 ■ 
Salt, 191, 197, 203-209, 212, 266, 278 
Sammis, J. S., 272 n., 295 n. 
Sanderson, 161. 283, 287 
Sanderson, J. T., 556 
Sanchez, Mr., 232 
Sandhill. Lake country, 305 
Saint John, " Isle " of, 4 



INDEX 



765 



Santa Rosa island, 77, 109, 120, 121, 

125-127, 132, 133, 138, 167 
Santa Rosa County, 427, 431, 468 n., 

493 n., 591 
Santo Domingo, 106 
Satterlee, H., negro, 456, 459 
Saunders, W. U., negro, 208, 302, 

307, 470-473, 489, 493 n., 496, 499, 

500, 502, 509, 514 and n., 522, 524 

and n., 610, 611 and n., 642, 700 
Savannah, Ga., 92, 192, 193, 270, 

277, 282, 297, 652 
Saw-mi!ls, 33, 165, ^66, 303, 373, 

397, 453 
Sawyer, Oscar, of .'V. Y. Herald, 

279 n. 
Saxton, Gen. R. (U. S. A.), 228, 

231, 234, 239 
Scalawags, 406, 474, 478-483, 488, 

493-496, 525, 529. 534, 548 n., 558, 

592, 609, 630, 638 
Schmidt. Capt. (U. S. A.), report, 

308 
Schofield, J., Sec. of War, 541, 565, 

578 
Scofield, G. W., Congressman, 585 
Schools, 235, 236 and n., 380, 385 

and n., 386-389, 420, 421, 475, 683, 

684, 699 
Scott, G. W., 434 n., 521, 527 and n. 
Scott, Sir W., Prose Works, 18 
Scott, Gen. W. (U. S. A.), 70, 102 

n., 104, 108, 114 
Scrip, 508, 544, 546. 654, 671, 678, 

679 
Sea Horse Key, 152 
Sea Islands, 154 
" Sebastopol of America," 122 
Seal, State, 550 and n. 
Secession, 48. 49. 59, 60, 55-65, 175, 

176, 251, 275, 360, 590 
Secret Societies, negro, 374, 375 

and n., 376, 401, 456, 459, 462, 471 

and n., 473, 476 n., 486, 510, 514, 

524, 561, 562. 606 
Secretary of the Navy, U. S., 276 
Secretary of the Treasury, U. S., 

350 
Sect, of War, Confed., 106, 194, 224 
Sect, of War, U. S., 102, 514, 541, 

565 
Seddon, J. A., Sect, of War, 194 
Seminoles, Indians, 30, 31 and n., 

42 
Senate, U. S., 366, 401, 428, 429, 439, 

440. 532, 542, 585, 666 ^ 



Senate, Fla.. 437, 554 and n., 555, 
612 and n., 617 n., 629, 631, 632, 

734 . 
Senatobie Invincibles, 115 
Sequestration, 195, 249, 590, 591 
Seward, W. H., 105, 294, 367 
Sexual Morality, 421 
Seymour, H., 537 
Seymour, Gen. T. (U. S. A.), 277, 

281, 283, 292, 294 
Shake Rug Corner, 305 
Shea, J. G., 4 n. 
Sheep, 1S8 

Sheriff, 195, 360, 603, 623 
Sherman, Gen. T. W. (U. S. A.), 

150, 159, 169, 250, 251 
Sherman, Gen. W. T., 326, 714 
Sherman- Johnston Truce, 326, 327 
Sherman's Senate Bill, 445 
Shipley, Lt. (U. S. A.), 126 
Ships, 201, 202 and n. 
Shorter, J. G., Gov. of Ala., 164, 

204 n. 
Simpkins, Mr., 232 
Sim.pson, J., 616 n. 
Skirmishing, 279, 280, 284, 299-316 
Slavery, 31, 36, 38, 52, 53, 211, 212, 

218-224, 238-242. 324, 340, 347, 

348. 358, 361, 362, 365, 372, 412, 

517, 569, 592 
Slemmer, Capt. A. (U. S. A.), 74, 

75, 77-80, 84, 85, 103, 107, 112 
Small-pox, 384 
Sm'th, G., History of Wesleyan 

MetJwdism, 19 n. 
Smith, Capt. (U. S. A.), 453 
Smith, Mr., 554 n. 
Smith, Buckingham, 8 n., 295 n. 
Smith, Col. C. (C. S. A.), 291 

and n. 
Smith, C. H., 537 n. 
Smith. J. W., 295 n. 
Smith, M., negro, 570 
Smith, R., negro, 580 
Smith, S., 35 n. 
Solano, M., 434 n. 
Soldiers' families, t88, 189, 191, 

201 n. 
Soulter and Co., 656, 660 
South Carolina, 20, 59, 60, 269, 324 

and n., 402, 450 
South Carolina troops, 296 
South Fla., 222, 234, 270 n., 289, 

30Q, 314. 434 
Southern Navigation and Improve- 
ment Co., 670 and n., 671, 672 



766 



INDEX 



" Southern Rights Association," 35 

Spain, 8, 9, 11 

Speculation, 183 and n., 184, 204 

and n., 250, 362 n. 
Speed, Atty.-Gen., 354, 355 
Speeches, 1867, 456-460, 475, 486, 

487. 503, 534 and n. 
Sprague, Col. J. T. (U. S. A.), 31, 

392, 396, 401 n., 402, 403, 443, 453. 

454, 461, 466, 514, 532, 533 and n., 

591 

Spratt, L. W., of S. C, 59, 60. 82 

Spurling, Col. A. B. (U. S. A.), 
312 n. 

St. Andrews bay, 154, 197, 260- 
209, 22Z, 265 n., 310, 313 

St. Augustine, 8, 9, 10 n., 91, 156, 
159, 160, 162, 169, 202, 235, 237, 
254, 257, 265 n., 272, 275. 293, 305- 
307, 385 and n., 403, 427, 471 n., 
483, 488, 534 n.. 586, 653, 666, 702 

St. Georges sound, 207 

St. Johns County, 468 n., 487, 494 n. 

St. Johns Bluff, 145, 170, 171 

St. Johns river. 9, 144, 147. 157, 
170, 172, 198, 229, 230, 258, 268, 
277, 299-301, 306, 652, 653 

St. Johns and Halifax Navigation 
and Improvement Co.. d^)"/ 

St. Joseph, 24, 25 

St. Josephs Bay, 205 

St. Marks, 8, 24, zz, 198, 265 n., 
314. 327 

St. Marks bay, 208 

St. Marks river, 314, 315 

St. Marys river, 9, 279, 283, 286, 304 

St. Vincent's Island, 145 

Stanley, G. A., 541 n. 

Stanton, Sect, of War, U. S., 169, 
276, 335. 553 

" Star of th ^ West," 63 

Starke, Fla., 186, 305, 396 

Starvation, 270 

State Seminarv, Cadets of, 314 

State Canvassing Board, see Board. 

Station No. 4, 313 

Stealing, 31 and n., 403, 404 

Stearns, M. L., 403, 514 n., 612, 622- 
624. 6,38, 6''0 and n., 666, 689, 690, 
693 n., 698-702, 711, 713, 714, 731, 

734. 735 
Steedman, Gen. J. B. (U. S. A.), 

383, 394 n., 396, 404 
Stellwagen (U. S. N.), 163 
Stephens, Mr., 707. 708 
Stephens, Alex. H.. 123 



Stevens, Capt. (U. S. A.), 158, 159 
Stevens, Thad., 349. 523 n., 532 
Stewart, 640 n. 

Stickney, Mr., 237, 272-274, 281, 
^ 352, 528, 545 n. 
Stonelake, Mr., 392 n., 393 
Strickland, W. W., 263 
Subsistence Department, U. S.. 

265 n. 
Suffrage, negro, 351, 352, 363, 364, 

365, 371 and n., 2,7^, 410, 411, 429, 

436-438. 442, 456, 513, 615 
Sugar, 186, 192, 215, 270 n., 329 
Sullivan, S., negro, 570 
Sumner, Chas., 349. 365, 366, 411, 

429, 439, 442, 552 
Sumpter County, 468 n., 494 n., 

627 n., 690 
Superintendent of Negro Schools, 
386, 387, 535 n. 
Supply, U. S. ship, 76, 79, 85 
Suppression of free speech, 336, 

ZZ7 
Supreme Ct., Fla.. 193, 444. 445- 449 
Surrender, the. in Fla., 1865, 325- 

329 
Surveyor, County, 535 n. 
Surveyor-General, State, 546 
Suwanee County, 468 n., 494 n., 

559 n., 560 n.. 581, 582, 627 n. 
Suwanee river, 15, 284, 313 
Swepson, Geo., 616, 655-663 
Syrup. 403 



Tacitus, writings of, 18 
Tallahassee, 12 n., 13, 38-40, 64-67, 

I 143, 148, 186, 314, .316 n.. 325, 328, 
336-338. 360 n., 380, 382. 385 n.. 
391. 392, 408, 411, 427, 428 and n., 
432, 4-'3, 456, 460. 461 n., 464, 471 
n., 474, 481 n., 483, 485, 487, 489. 
500, 504-506, 509, 512, 513. 521, 

1 531. 534. 5^7-539- 546 n., 562, 567. 

I 577, 578, 586, 588, 618. 624, 634 

I 638, 658, 660, 665, 702, 706. 710. 

; 713, 714. 723, 724, 735. 738 

I Tallahassee Railroad, 658 

! Tallahassee Sentinel, newspaper, 

! 447. 663 

I Tampa. 144 n., 186, 198. 202, 203, 
j 2og, 233, 301. 329. 360 n , 427, 433. 

434 n.. 498, 591. 702 
I Tannerhill, Mr., 640 n. 
I Tax commissioners. Federal, 232, 
' 237. 254, 272, 352 



INDEX 



7^7 



Taxes, Confed., 185, 186 

Taxes, Federal, 484, 485 n. 

Taxes, state and local, 179 n., 185, 
331, 382 n., 418 and n., 475, 535 n., 
583, 584, 598-601, 619 and n., 
650, 651, 672-678, 692, 698, 703 

Taylor County, 259, 260 n., 261, 
264 n., 457, 465, 468 n., 494 n., 
558 and n., 560 n., 580, 582, 627 n. 

Teachers in negro schools. 380, 
386-389, 420, 699 

Telegraph, 77, 152, 325, 545 n., 651, 
710, 714 

Tennessee, 15, 33, 656 n. 

Terry, Gen. A. H. (U. S. A.), 241 

Test Oath, Federal, 365 n., 366, 444, 
445 and n. 

Texas, 324 n., 440 

Thayer, Eli, 2^s, 257 

Theft, 398 

Third Military District, 454, 484 

Thomas, Gen. L. (U. S. A.), 132 

Thompson, Mr., 594 

" Tidal Wave," Democratic, 1874, 

643 
Tidwell, Judge B. F., 602 
Tilden, S. J.. 728, 736 
Tim.ber, 166, 246, 313, 670 
Times, New York, 257, 343 
Times, Ta'laliassee, newspaper, 476 
Time, C. S., steamer, 127 
Tire. Mr., 594 
"Tithe," 187-191 
Tobacco, 197, 210 
Torpedo, Confederate, 299-301 
Tracy, E. D., 361 
Trade with Indians, 8-9 
Transports, Federal, 314 
Trapier, Brig. -Gen. J. H. (C. S. 

A.), 145 and n., 147, 157 
Treason, charges of, 334-336, 441, 

442 
Treasury, State, 672, 678 
Treasury agents. Federal, 232. 280, 

330, 331, 352, 357, 375, 381, 382 n., 

390, 470, 525 n. 
Treasury Department. U. S., 254 
Treasury notes. 177 and n., 178, 179, 

180 and n.. 181 and n. 
Trespass, mal'cious, 418 
Trial, impeachment of Reed. 636 
Tribune. New York, 344, 505 
Trimmer. Wm.. 94, 373 n. 
Troops from Fla., 322, 323 and n. 
Trout creek, 303 
Truman, Benjamin. 362, 365 n., 367 



and n., 370 n., 371 n., 372 n., 373 

n., 402, 422 n. 
Trustees of Internal Improvement 

Fund, 657, 658, 661. 670-672 
I'urkey, 731 

Turnbull, Dr.. colony of. 10 
Turpentine, 197, 201, 295, 373 n.. 

397 
Tutson, S., negro, 559 n.. 593, 594, 
601 n. 

U 

Underwood, Mr., 544 n. 

Union Leagues, 375 and n., 376, 

459, 471 and n., 484, 524, 562, 579, 

606 
Union men. 44, 157-159. 166, 243. 

245, 248, 253 n., 259, 275, 280, 308, 

333> 354, 355^ 429. 472, 476, 504, 

521, 590, 591 
Union party, 433 _ 

Union-Conservative party, 350, 483 
Union-Republican party, 366. 375, 

437, 474 . 
Union soldiers from Florida, 322, 

^323 

Union Trust Company. 670 
United States, 112, 113, 497 



Vacancies in office, 463, 545 and n., 

548 and n., 551, 555 
Vagrancy, 398, 400, 415, 417-419. 

422, 423, 433 
Vanderbilt, U. S., ship, 121 
Van Ess. Maj. (U. S. A.), 487 
Vance, T. W., 731 
Vance, Gov. Z., of North Carolina, 

333 n., 33^ 
Verm.ont, 251, 254. 511 
Veto, President's, 428, 429, 446, 531 
Veto, Reed's, 545, 547, 551 
" Vigilant Committees," i860, 38, 

43. 44 
Villepigue, F. L., 68 
Virginia, 15, 20, 59, 114, 324 n., 402, 

656 n. 
Virginia troops, 296 
Volunteers, 38, 143, 230-233, 246 n. 
Vogdes, Gen. I. (U. S. A.), 104, 

T08, T14. 131, 327, 338, 341 
Volusia County, 302, 305-307, 468 

n., 494 n. 
Voorhees. Congressman D. W., 585 
Vose, F., 670 n. 



768 



INDEX 



Votes cast, 36, 46, 365, 366, 492, 
527, 528, 627 n., 628, 629, 640 and 
n., 642, 715 n., 718, 721 n., 722, 
727, 733, 734, 736 and n., 

Voting, 371 n., 491, 705-707 

W 

Wade, Benj., 536, 537 

Wages, 224, 358, 393-398, 419, 452 

and n., 501, 597 and n. 
Wakulla County, 62, 465, 468 n., 

487, 493 n.. 681 n. 
Wakulla river, 314 
Waldo, 329, 396, 708 
Walker, D. S., 218, 355, 356, 366 

and n., 368, 387, 406, 409, 410, 430, 

432, 434-437, 444, 460. 464. 5I2 

and n., 532, 539, 555 n. 
Walker, G. W., 434 n., 493 n. 
Walker, L. P., Sect, of War, C. S., 

111, 112 

Walker, Sam., 525, 527 and n., 613 
Wallace, John, negro, 361 n., 422 

and n., 428 n., 459, 471 n., 473 n., 

577, 593, 613, 625 n., 691, 698-700, 

735 
Wallace, Lew, of Indiana, 715, 731 
Walton County, 62, 64, 257, 311, 

468 n.j 488, 493 n. 
Wall, Judge. 192 
Wall Street (N. Y.), 29, 34, 35 
Walls, J. T., negro, 494 n., 619, 

627, 629, 639, 640, 642 
War debt, 181, 360, 362, 363 
War Department, C. S., no, in, 

112, 140, 144, 147, 193, 198, 225 
War Department, U. S., 109. 377, 

380, 533 n. 
War tax, 179 
Ward, G. T., 62, 222 
Ware, E. L., 494 n. 
Warrenton, village, 113, 122 
Warrock, J. W., 535 n. 
Washburne, Congressman E. B., 

440 
Washington, L. Q., 78. in, 112 
Washington, D. C., 355 and n., 433, 

442, 455. 522, 523, 543, 728, 736, 

737 
Washington County, 62, 260, 311, 

466 n., 493 n. 
Wassassee river, 310 
Waukeena. 485, 539 n. 
Webster. Bureau agent, 382 n. 
Weeks. Edvv-in. 616, 629, 630 and n. 



Weeks, Maj. E. C. (U. S. A.), 

309 n. 
Welaka, 302, 307 
Welch, A. S., 531, 532 
Welles, Gideon, 109, no, 276, 294 
Wells, Rich., 514 n. 
Wescott, J. D., 460, 534 n., 535 
West, T. W., 578 
West Indies. 197 
Western Carolma Railroad, 662 
Wharton. George, 97 
Wheeler, W. A., 728 
Whigs, 27, 32, 36, 366 and n., 521. 

664 
Whipping, 221, 344, 405 and n., 406, 

416, 417. 419, 420, 564, 580, 581, 

587, 594, 603, 604 
Whiskey, 215, 465, 505, 601, 602, 614 
White counties. 581 n. 
White, Mr., 616 n. 
White, L., 559 n. 
White, Maj. P. W. CC. S. A.)„ and 

Judge, 269, 270, 271, 626, 627 n., 

669 
White, T. W., 521 and n. 
Whites, iSouthern. 347, 461 
Whittier, J. W., "Boatman's Song," 

237 
" Wide Awakes," 42 
Wigfall, Mr. L. T., 119 
Wilson, Col. "Billie" (U. S. A.), 

121, 129, 130, 133, 168 
Wilson, Henry, 31 n., 536, 640 
Wilson, Gen. J. H. (U. S. A.), 326, 

332 
Wilson, Lemuel, 354, 355 n., 604 
Williams, J. J., 41 n., 399, 400 
Williams, U. S. Senator, 440 
V/isconsin, 477. 478, 523 and n. 
Wise, Gen. H. (C. S. A.), 282 
Witherspoon. George W.. negro. 

644 . . , , 

Witnesses, admission of blacks as, 

358, 585 
Wives, black, 341 
Wyandotte. U. S. ship. 1861, 85, iio, 

114 
Wyatt, J., negro, 493 n. 
Wolf, J. D. (U. S. A.), 456 
Woodhull. Comd. (U. S. N.), 268 
Woods. Justice, 672 
Wool-Cards. 189 and n. 
Wooley. C. W.. 729 n. 
Woollesley, village, 122 
Worden, Lt. J. L. (U. S. N.), no. 

Ill 



INDEX 



yG() 



Wright, B. D., 434 n. 
Wright, Gen. H. (U. S. A.), 151, 
153. 156, 172 



Yellow Bluff, 623 

Yellow river, 308, 309 

Yonge, C. C., 100 n., 191 

Yonge, P. K., 50 n. 

Yulee, D. L., 41. 61, 66. 69, 70, 83, 



86, 87 and n., 100 and n., loi, 146 

and n., 153, 192, 194, 332 n., 334- 

33(>, 698 
Young, Capt. (U. S. A.). 306 
Young Men's Democratic Club, 561- 

564 



Zouave regiments (C. S. A.), 118, 
121. 129, 130, 234 



VITA 

William Watson Davis was born in Pensacola. 
Florida, February 12, 1884. He was reared in Oak 
Grove, Alabama. His preparatory education was ob- 
tained in the public school of a nearby country settle- 
ment, Mauvilla, and in the University Military School of 
Mobile. In 1900 he entered the Alabama Polytechnic 
Institute, receiving from that institution the bachelor's 
degree in science in 1903 and the master's degree in 1904. 
He held a scholarship in Latin and History during 1903-4, 
carrying on research work in American history under 
Dr. George Petrie ; and in 1904 he became Instructor 
in Latin and Acting-Librarian of the Alabama Polytechnic 
Institute. In 1905 he entered the graduate school of 
Columbia University, obtaining the degree of Master of 
Arts in 1907. During 1907-8 he was University Fellow 
in American history at Columbia and the next year 
became Lecturer in History to fill a temporary vacancy. 
The following year he entered the Sorbonne, University 
of Paris, as Honorary Fellow from Columbia University. 
In 1910 he became Assistant Professor of American 
History in the University of Kansas. 

771 



.-f 



THE CIVIL WAR AND 
RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA 



WILLIAM WATSON DAVIS, A. M. 

As&islani Professor, American History 

University of Kansas 

Sometime University Fellow in American History 

Columbia University 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
I913 



Cmu 



fj 




:* -'*. , 



'h- ° ' ■ \ 






9 1^ y ^ s ' o r 




C' 



■0- 









.Q^^. 



=^0 0^ 



^OQ^ 



.\' 







n- . # 






ci-^ 















>• 











^>- 


v^ 












x^ 


^:. 




t^ 


^ 




'-■ " , 




aV 


■/', 













v\^ 






''^. * ■, V ' 



^. <.^- 






^'^^ . ^ "^ '■ '.■ 









"vr 









ti-. 



-^ 







cP-, 


•^-^ 


0^ 






,,-\ 


■<> 













% <^'^"- 

A^^' ^/>-. 



■"\ 









,0o 






\ 









•S^ -^^ 



,^ ,. \ 1 f 









^ .^r^'^/'o. 


















,0-' '-6 



"^^ t'^- 









.-Js^ 



^ "^ ''^>-. '" ,^> .lis 



•X^^' "^^ 



.0' , 









,0 O^ 












o , 






■I- 






c 












\) c 




.^^' 


' * 


,.^^ 


% 


\ 


V 




' ^*-' 







■^ ' »»^ 



• 0- 






■0- 





% 








y^ 


,/■ 




• 

^'b: 

-^ 




V 






^ 










; '"oo^ 








^v^' 


"^^x 



0' ^ -^ " " / c 












%,/ ; 








^.^ : 






V * 

>:*' 


>\ 


n N (. 






v\ 



A>' ^. 



-N." 



vO o. 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 498 999 5 



